The primary function of the health professionals in the Rehabilitation Medicine Department (RMD) is to diagnose and treat patients who have a dysfunction in locomotion, activities of daily living, occupational or avocational roles, communication, deglutition or who experience chronic pain. The goal of RMD is to help patients achieve their maximal level of function in order to optimally perform everyday activities. ? ? The RMD Screening protocol affords RMD staff an opportunity to pilot new tests, techniques, therapeutic modalities, technology, or equipment that have very low or no risk. Such media may be commonly used in rehabilitation practice, but are being tested at NIH in a population that is different from the traditional. This protocol is designed for pilot work, and data generated from the pilot projects may be used, for example, to generate a protocol or to assure investigators of the ease/usefulness of the assessment, technology, or equipment. ? ? The RMD Screening protocol was used to pilot the following projects: 1) Adult Myositis Assessment Tool: Test-Re-test reliability: Pilot study to validate the test retest reliability of the AMAT functional assessment tool, 2) Biodex pilot testing to assess muscle fatigue in five patients with hypoparathyroidism and five age, gender, and BMI matched controls, 3) Patients perspectives on experiences with psychotropic medications for schizophrenia.
