Question: How effective is an e-learning program based on international clinical guidelines in promoting beliefs more aligned with the current evidence for the management of low back pain among physiotherapists?
Design: Randomised controlled trial with concealed allocation and intention-to-treat analysis.
Participants: 106 physiotherapists who treat patients with low back pain.
Interventions: The experimental group received access to an e-learning program, based on recommendations of clinical practice guidelines for the management of low back pain, over a 6-week period.
Objectives: Low back pain was the sixth most common reason for an ED visit in 2022-2023 in Australia, one-third of these patients were subsequently admitted to hospital. Therefore, we have assessed whether some patients could be diverted to alternate clinical pathways, via admission to a virtual hospital (rpavirtual), and be cared for remotely in their own homes.
Methods: Ethics approval was granted for protocols X21-0278 & 2021/ETH10967 and X21-0094 & 2021/ETH00591.
Background: Low back pain is one of the most common presentations in general practice. Although there is excellent evidence regarding best management of the condition, in primary care there is often overuse of less effective and expensive options, whereas effective, inexpensive options are underused. After broad consultation and evidence review, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has developed a clinical care standard in response to this identified gap between best and actual practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Low back pain (LBP) is ranked in the top 10 conditions presenting to emergency departments (ED) in Australia. We aimed to investigate ED re-presentation rates and length of stay (LOS) of patients with LBP, including associated factors.
Methods: We reviewed medical records of three EDs in Sydney, Australia from January 2016 to October 2021.
Background: To describe the frequency of primary care seeking for neck or back-related conditions among people with chronic neck and low back pain and to develop prediction models of primary care seeking and frequent visits.
Methods: We included participants of the Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT4, 2017-19) in Norway who self-reported chronic neck and/or low back pain in the preceding year, and extracted data of primary care visits from the Norwegian primary healthcare registry. We investigated a total of 23 potential predictors and used multivariable logistic regression models to predict primary care seeking for neck or back-related conditions and frequent visits by healthcare provider (i.
Braz J Phys Ther
May 2024
Background: Multimodal analgesia regimens are recommended for the postoperative period after hip and knee replacement surgeries. However, there are no data on practice patterns for analgesic use in the immediate postoperative period after hip and knee replacements in Australia.
Objectives: To describe analgesic prescribing patterns in the inpatient postoperative phase for patients undergoing hip and knee replacement.
Clinical care indicators for low back pain can be used to monitor healthcare practices and consequently be used to evaluate success of strategies to improve care quality. The aim of this study was to identify the clinical care indicators that have been used to measure appropriateness of health care for patients with low back pain. We conducted a systematic search of five electronic databases and Google to identify clinical care indicators that have been used to measure any aspect of care for people with low back pain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To evaluate the efficacy of opioids for people with acute musculoskeletal pain against placebo.
Study Design: Systematic review and meta-analyses of randomised, placebo-controlled trials of opioid analgesics for acute musculoskeletal pain in any setting. The primary outcomes were pain and disability at the immediate timepoint (< 24 h).
The objective of this study is to compare and contrast the quality statements and quality indicators across clinical care standards for low back pain. Searches were performed in Medline, guideline databases, and Google searches to identify clinical care standards for the management of low back pain targeting a multidisciplinary audience. Two independent reviewers reviewed the search results and extracted relevant information from the clinical care standards.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Estimates of prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in children and adolescents vary considerably and the impact of pain on children's life is often not considered.
Objective: To determine the one-month prevalence of disabling musculoskeletal pain in children and adolescents. The secondary aims are to: 1) determine the body region with the highest prevalence; 2) understand the characteristics of the children with disabling musculoskeletal pain; and 3) describe the parents' perception of the prevalence.
Background: Low back pain (LBP) was the fifth most common reason for an emergency department (ED) visit in 2020-2021 in Australia, with >145,000 presentations. A total of one-third of these patients were subsequently admitted to the hospital. The admitted patient care accounts for half of the total health care expenditure on LBP in Australia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The Internet is a widely used source of health information, yet the accuracy of online information can be low. This is the case for low back pain (LBP), where much of the information about LBP treatment is poor.
Methods: This research conducted a content analysis to explore what pain treatments for LBP are presented to the public on websites of Australian pain clinics listed in the PainAustralia National Pain Services Directory.
Background: The management of low back pain (LBP) is highly variable and patients often receive management that is not recommended and/or miss out on recommended care. Clinician knowledge and behaviours are strongly influenced by entry-level clinical training and are commonly cited as barriers to implementing evidence-based management. Currently there are no internationally recognised curriculum standards for the teaching of LBP content to ensure graduating clinicians have the appropriate knowledge and competencies to assess and manage LBP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeople often use infographics (also called visual or graphical abstracts) as a substitute for reading the full text of an article. This is a concern because most infographics do not present sufficient information to interpret the research appropriately and guide wise health decisions. The Reporting Infographics and Visual Abstracts of Comparative studies (RIVA-C) checklist and guide aims to improve the completeness with which research findings of comparative studies are communicated and avoid research findings being misinterpreted if readers do not refer to the full text.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJMIR Rehabil Assist Technol
November 2023
Background: Alternate "hospital avoidance" models of care are required to manage the increasing demand for acute inpatient beds. There is currently a knowledge gap regarding the perspectives of hospital clinicians on barriers and facilitators to a transition to virtual care for low back pain. We plan to implement a virtual hospital model of care called "Back@Home" and use qualitative interviews with stakeholders to develop and refine the model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF