Using the Literature to Design a Study in the Rehabilitation Setting: An Example with Stroke Patients

A literature review can provide direction for decisions that are made at each step of the research process. Rehabilitation nurses can use a review of the research literature to provide the foundation for designing a clinical study. The purpose of this article is to describe how a literature review can contribute to designing nursing studies in rehabilitation care settings. Examples of the literature on discharge planning for stroke patients are used to illustrate this process.