The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) recently funded our application to create the Learning Health Systems Rehabilitation Research Network (LeaRRn) -- a resource and incubator to advance stakeholder-partnered rehabilitation research that improves quality, demonstrates value, and enhances patient and systems outcomes. The network involves collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh, Boston University, and eight health system partners.
Learning health systems are healthcare systems in which knowledge generation processes are embedded in daily practice to produce continual improvement in care. LeaRRn applies this model to rehabilitation research, to 1) partner researchers with healthcare systems and other stakeholders to develop rehabilitation research questions; 2) fund and support scholars and pilot programs, and 3) advance best practices in rehabilitation research.
According to Linda Resnik, who is Principal Investigator of the network, "There is an urgent need for a rehabilitation resource center that supports learning health system rehabilitation research and develops learning health system rehabilitation researchers." Read Brown's press release to learn more about this exciting new initiative to advance the field of rehabilitation research.