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The Shirley Ryan AbilityLab Rehabilitation Measures Database (RMD) has reached a major milestone with the addition of its 600th measure summary! The Hammersmith Infant Neurological Exam was summarized by occupational therapy students at the University of Washington, Seattle, under the direction of Britt St. John, PhD, MPH, OTR/L, assistant professor of occupational therapy.
Launched in 2011, the RMD provides comprehensive information on psychometric properties and research findings from scientific literature related to each rehabilitation measure. Students from occupational therapy, physical therapy, rehabilitation psychology, nursing and other allied health programs across the United States play a vital role in maintaining the database, updating existing entries and drafting new summaries. International collaborators have also made valuable contributions to the development of measure summaries.
In recent years, the RMD has received between 4 and 5 million pageviews annually and is accessed by users in more than 145 countries, underscoring its global reach and impact.
Kevin Fearn, project coordinator in the Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research (CROR) at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, helps to manage the RMD. His work includes coordinating student contributions, communicating with educators and writing and editing measure summaries. Fearn has worked on the RMD since March 2023 when there were just over 500 measures in the database.
“One of the most satisfying parts of managing the RMD is teaching students how to conduct rigorous literature reviews and develop high-quality summaries, and then seeing them apply those skills successfully,” says Fearn. “It’s incredibly rewarding to bring their work together, publish it online and let them see their contributions shared with a global audience.”
Linda Ehrlich-Jones, PhD, RN, associate director of CROR, has been involved with the RMD since 2011. “The RMD is truly a worldwide resource,” says Ehrlich-Jones. “Whenever I go to a conference and ask if anyone uses the RMD, hands shoot up everywhere. People from around the world are familiar with this resource and use it regularly.”
The RMD offers more than measure summaries. It also includes educational resources designed to help users understand psychometric concepts and confidently select the most appropriate measures for their patients. In addition, the RMD features more than 25 infographics on commonly used measures. These patient-friendly tools are intended to be shared with patients and their care partners and explain the purpose of each measure, what the patient is asked to do and how to interpret the scores.
Development of the infographics and educational resources was supported by a Knowledge Translation grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR, grant 90DPKT0007). The RMD also receives support from Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.