Evaluation of an inter-professional educational intervention to improve the use of arthritis best practices in primary care.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the evaluation of a community-based continuing health education program designed to improve the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA), and to examine the results by discipline.
METHODS: The Getting a Grip on Arthritis(©) program was based on clinical practice guidelines adapted for the primary care environment (best practices). The program consisted of an accredited inter-professional workshop and 6 months of activities to reinforce the learning. Analyses compared best practice scores derived from responses to 3 standardized case scenarios (early and late RA; moderate knee OA) at baseline and 6 months post-workshop using the ACREU Primary Care Survey.
RESULTS: In total, 553 primary care providers (nurses/licensed practical nurses 30.9%, rehabilitation professionals 22.5%, physicians 22.5%, nurse practitioners 10.9%, other healthcare providers/non-clinical staff/students 13.1%) attended one of 27 workshops across Canada; 275 (49.7%) completed followup surveys. Best practice scores varied by discipline at baseline (p < 0.05) and improved for all 3 case scenarios, with nurse practitioners and rehabilitation therapists improving the most (p ≤ 0.05).
CONCLUSION: Results suggest that inter-professional education may be an effective method for dissemination of guidelines and has potential to improve the delivery of arthritis care, particularly when nurse practitioners and rehabilitation therapists are involved in the care of patients.