Better Osteoarthritis Care: Delivering education and training for primary care health professionals in Ireland.

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis in Ireland. It is a condition of the joints that can cause pain, reduce mobility and result in poorer quality of life. It is more common in people over the age of 50 and often affects the knee and hip joints. To ensure that people with osteoarthritis receive ideal care, it is important that healthcare professionals who commonly care for people with osteoarthritis are up to date with the most current best practice. We plan to roll out an online education course for healthcare professionals such as GPs, practice nurses, physiotherapists and dieticians, on the management of osteoarthritis. This course, developed in Australia, is in line with international best-practice guidelines. We will adapt the programme by adding an additional module that will focus on management of osteoarthritis within the Irish health system. The programme can be completed in people’s own time. We will record how many healthcare professionals access and complete the course. We will also assess how useful it is in improving healthcare professionals’ knowledge and confidence in managing osteoarthritis

We will also run a workshop for healthcare professionals in three different locations across Ireland, or online, which will focus on the roles of  different healthcare professionals in managing osteoarthritis, specifically within the Irish health system. We want to ensure that the ‘patient voice’ is represented in the workshops. A person with osteoarthritis will be one of the presenting team at these workshops along with a doctor, physiotherapist and other healthcare professionals such as dietitian or pharmacist.  We will measure the success of the workshops by getting feedback from those who attend on how useful they were for their healthcare role and assess their confidence in managing osteoarthritits, and their knowledge of the role of other healthcare professionals in managing osteoarthritis.
 

Award Date

12 September 2022

Award Value

€36,510.00

Principal Investigator

Professor Helen French

Host Institution

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

Scheme

Knowledge Translation Awards