Rehabilitation of traumatic injuries: use of the delphi method to identify topics for evidence-based review.

Evidence-based reviews of research literature are useful in determining the efficacy of specific clinical practices, but the review process is frequently time-consuming and costly. The purpose of this study was to identify important research questions in rehabilitation that are appropriate for evidence-based reviews. The focus of this study was rehabilitation after traumatic injuries. Topics were identified using the Delphi method, which utilized a panel of 24 researchers and clinicians with expertise in rehabilitation of traumatic injuries. The experts identified 71 topics, predominantly in the areas of spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation. The most commonly suggested intervention topics involved assessment of pharmacologic agents, the timing or intensity of interventions, or specific nonpharmacologic therapies and exercises. Topics were ranked by mean importance score. Ten of 24 questions in the top tertile were considered to have some or a substantial amount of available research and thus may be appropriate for structured evidence-based reviews. Similar methods could be used to identify appropriate topics in other areas of rehabilitation.