Education and Management of PAD in Primary Care

To Explore the Educational Experience of UK Primary Care Health Practitioners for Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD), Including Identification of Factors That Shape Their Preferred Learning Style and Assess Health Professionals Opinions of PAD Recognition and Management

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) occurs when the vessels carrying blood to the legs become narrowed or blocked. It affects 1 in 5 people aged over 60 and are at risk of losing their leg, developing a heart attack or stroke, or die early.

Early symptoms of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) include aching in the legs when walking which may not be recognised by healthcare professional. Our research has shown that knowledge and recognition of PAD is poor in healthcare professionals and trainees. There appears to be little time provided within healthcare professional training for PAD.

To improve PAD recognition/management, the investigators want to identify the current level of training given to healthcare professionals; opinion towards PAD related to their training and how they prefer to receive training.

With the information gained from this research, the development of an educational training package for GPs, practice nurses and their trainees to improve recognition of PAD is anticipated.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Peripheral Arterial Disease
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Educational Screening tool

Detailed Description

Around 20% of people above 60 years are estimated to have PAD. The prevalence of PAD is expected to rise due to a sedentary life-style, poor dietary choices, rising prevalence of diabetes and longer life-expectancy.

The most common presentation of symptomatic PAD is intermittent claudication - pain on activity. In some cases the reduction in blood flow is so severe that it causes pain at rest, ulceration or gangrene (chronic limb threatening ischemia, CLTI). Approximately 5% of individuals between the age of 55 and 74 in the UK have IC or CLTI. Compared to age-matched individuals, these patients are more likely to suffer cardiovascular events - heart attack and strokes and cognitive impairment (10). Of those with IC, 5% will progress to CLTI. In patients with CLTI the one-year risk of limb amputation is 30% and five-year all-cause mortality is 50%, similar to various advanced forms of cancer. Recognition and management are essential to reducing the limb and life loss sequela.

Management of these high-risk individuals is shared between primary care (diagnosis, treatment of cardiovascular risk-factors, rehabilitation) and secondary care (vascular reconstruction, amputation, specialist management of cardiovascular disease).

This mutli-centre prospective cohort study will investigate the explore the educational experience of UK primary care health practitioners for peripheral arterial disease (PAD), including identification of factors that shape their preferred learning style and assess health professionals opinions of PAD recognition and management.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 891

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • Leicestershire
    • Leicester, Leicestershire, United Kingdom, Le1 7rh
      • University of Leicester

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

Practising healthcare practitioners within primary care

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Practising healthcare practitioners within primary care
2. Participants must be aged 18 years or older
3. Participants must be able to access the online questionnaire
4. Participants must have the capacity to consent
5. Participants should speak English

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Healthcare practitioners who are not in practice.
2. Participants who do not consent
3. Participants who are unable to communicate in English

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Educational exposure do primary care health practitioners experience regarding PAD	Educational exposure do primary care health practitioners experience regarding PAD	10 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
What opinions do UK primary care health practitioners have towards PAD recognition and management?	What opinions do UK primary care health practitioners have towards PAD recognition and management?	10 years

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
What factors are important when considering educational interventions to healthcare practitioners in primary care?	What factors are important when considering educational interventions to healthcare practitioners in primary care?	10 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Leicester
• Collaborators: National Institute for Health Research, United Kingdom; The George Davies Charitable Trust

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 1, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 1, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): September 1, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 8, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 10, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): April 13, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 20, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 18, 2023
• Last Verified: September 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: PAD; peripheral artery disease; peripheral arterial disease; PAD - peripheral arterial disease
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Cardiovascular Diseases; Vascular Diseases; Arteriosclerosis; Arterial Occlusive Diseases; Atherosclerosis; Peripheral Arterial Disease; Peripheral Vascular Diseases
• Other Study ID Numbers: 0782/280635

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED
• IPD Plan Description: Anonymised dataset will be available on request to the Chief Investigator (Prof Rob Sayers).

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No