THE COCHRANE REHABILITATION E-BOOK

Introduction. Cochrane Rehabilitation, in collaboration with the European PRM Bodies, has recently decided to engage in the production of an e-book including all relevant Cochrane Systematic Reviews (CSR) in order to facilitate the dissemination of evidence to all the different audiences described in the Cochrane Knowledge Translation Strategy. Methods. An editorial group has been set up. Each CSR will be presented with the original abstracts and plain language summary, plus 4 different summaries directed to convey the evidence to 4 different audiences (clinicians, students, policy makers and consumers). The e-book summaries will be initially produced by trainees in PRM of an Italian University and revised by the e-book editors, to be finally approved and released by the European PRM Bodies. Results. A pilot was performed and guidelines to facilitate the summaries production were defined. The clinical summary is meant for all clinicians and health professionals and should highlight the main results of the CSR. The educational summary is meant for medical or other health professional students, reinforcing all basic concepts. The political summary is addressed to policy decision makers and rehabilitation administrators. The consumer summary is meant for patients and caregivers and should be written in a clear and simple language as to explain to a patient his/her clinical condition and possible treatments. Conclusion. The e-book project will be a useful product to: 1. inform all rehabilitation health professionals on existing evidence; 2. educate students to achieve updated knowledge and learn how to select the best sources of scientific information, learning from the actual best evidence; 3. support political actions toward policymakers, consumers and other stakeholders to effectively organize service delivery, allocate resources, and allow persons experiencing disability to benefit from the best available rehabilitation interventions; and 4. identify unmet needs of evidence synthesis and prioritize Cochrane future work