Improve Osteoarthritis Care

The Improve Osteoarthritis Care Study

The purpose of The Improve Osteoarthritis Care study is to improve the quality of osteoarthritis care in Norwegian primary care, by increasing the use of recommended treatment modalities and improving patient access to recommended treatments. The study will use tailored implementation strategies, targeting primary care physicians and physiotherapists to improve knowledge and addressing individual barriers to providing recommended treatments.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Osteoarthritis, Knee; Osteoarthritis, Hip
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Implementation of treatment guidelines

Detailed Description

Previous research has shown that current osteoarthritis care for persons with hip or knee osteoarthritis (OA) in Norway has a potential for improvement as the provided care may not necessarily reflect evidence-based guideline recommendations. The overall purpose of the "Improve Osteoarthritis Care" study is that people with symptomatic hip and knee OA should receive care in line with current recommendations. To achieve this goal, tailored implementation strategies will be applied in order to: 1) Improve the quality of care offered to people with symptomatic hip and knee OA, 2) increase knowledge of recommended OA care among people with hip and knee OA, 3) Increase the number of primary care physiotherapists' offering group-based patient-education and structured exercise as part of their routine clinical practice, 4) Increase the number of general practitioners who have received a summary of the OA treatment recommendations.

To evaluate the effect of the tailored implementation strategy a pre-post design will be applied, and members of the Norwegian Rheumatology Association with self-reported hip or knee OA will be asked to evaluate quality of OA care at the two timepoints.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 1541
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Norway
  • Oslo, Norway, 0319
    • Diakonhjemmet Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Self-reported hip or knee osteoarthritis

Exclusion Criteria:

• Persons who do not understand the Norwegian language

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Other: Pre and post implementation phases; Pre-implementation phase: during the pre-implementation period persons with hip or knee osteoarthritis will receive "usual care" as it is currently delivered by physiotherapists and general practitioners. Post-implementation phase: during the post-implementation phase patients with hip and knee OA will receive OA care more in line with the treatment recommendations.

Other: Implementation of treatment guidelines; To improve knowledge of OA treatment recommendations among people with hip and knee OA, a lay language summary will be emailed all OA patient participants. A second summary of the treatment recommendations, targeting general practitioners (GPs) will also be emailed the OA patient participants. The patients will be encouraged to print and bring this summary to their GP at the next visit (user-initiated implementation). Barriers and facilitators for providing evidence-based OA care among primary care physiotherapists will be mapped through interviews. Thereafter, a tool-kit of strategies and practical aids intended to help overcome these barriers will be developed and made available for the physiotherapists.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The OsteoArthritis Quality Indicator questionnaire (OA-QI), version 2	Assess change in patient-reported quality of OA care (mean total pass rate, 0-100 (best score))	18 months follow-up

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Diakonhjemmet Hospital
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Nina Østerås, Diakonhjemmet Hospital

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 13, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): February 9, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): July 1, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 10, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 15, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): December 17, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): December 21, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 20, 2023
• Last Verified: December 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Implementation; Treatment guidelines
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Joint Diseases; Musculoskeletal Diseases; Rheumatic Diseases; Arthritis; Osteoarthritis; Osteoarthritis, Knee; Osteoarthritis, Hip
• Other Study ID Numbers: DS 00203

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

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