Medical Research

Dr. Andrés Peña Arrebola Head of Section, Hospital Ramon y Cajal Director of Rehabilitation Journal

The goal of rehabilitation is to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities.

With advances in medicine, currently it saves more lives but in many cases these people left with functional deficits, they can survive for many years. This raises the demand to improve their level of independence, while the current welfare societies before the obligation to meet these requirements if possible. These arise in the merely physical but also the emotional, family, social, employment and economic.

Research in Rehabilitation, therefore, has to be raised to meet the demands in each of these areas: biological, behavioral and social. The primary objective of the clinical investigator is to produce scientifically valid evidence, clinically relevant and statistically accurate. The rehabilitation physician serves and continually monitors patients in the recovery phase. This situation leads to identify problems without satisfactory solution so far, raising and seeking new alternatives.

Also studying creative act can occur otherwise. Occasionally comes by inspiration, causing what is called phenomenon "aha" (yuxtaponible the famous Archimedes eureka: I found it). Sometimes the research process culminates with imagination, conceiving a new idea and great that shattered the previous known that explained a phenomenon or an entire doctrine, being the prototype bizarre genius, in the etymological sense of the word. However, in many spheres of human activity, only he who seeks finds and inspiration rather than perspiration or account first arrive in the second, as referred to by some famous writers, enhancing the methodical work. We must also consider how organized and methodical worker without being brilliant and revolutionary systems may discover new, you can get interesting contributions on a previous idea more relevant.

We have said before that in the process of rehabilitation of the disabled concur many factors, from the biological to the social. Hence, an important feature of research in this field is that of a team made. This must be included the patient, or at least should be reflected faithfully what their needs, failing to be working on abstractions that have no practical relevance. The rehabilitation physician, physiotherapist, occupational and speech therapists, orthopedic technicians, engineers, biostatisticians, epidemiologists, apart from other professionals, can produce results more complete and satisfactory than any professional work isolated individual known only one facet the process.