Can a nurse-directed intervention reduce the exposure of patients with knee osteoarthritis to nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs?

Objective: : The objective of this study was to evaluate a nurse-directed self-management intervention for managed care patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA), emphasizing nonpharmacologic (NonPharm) management of pain and functional impairments and minimization of exposure to the risks and costs of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Methods: : Subjects were 186 patients from a large health maintenance organization (HMO) who satisfied American College of Rheumatology clinical criteria for knee OA. Two of 4 HMO sites (and their patient cohorts) were randomly assigned to the education group; the other 2 served as a delayed-intervention control group.