Clinical trial NCT04665908: PT-led Triage for Patients With Hip o Knee Osteoarthritis
Official title: PT-led Triage in Secondary Care Settings for Patients With Hip or/and Knee Osteoarthritis
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Knee Osteoarthritis
Hip Osteoarthritis
Keywords: PT-led triage
Osteoarthritis
Knee
Hip
Lead sponsor: Sahlgrenska University Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2020-12-14
Enrollment: 675
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: The aim of this project is to compare PT-led triage in secondary care setting for patients with hip or/and knee osteoarthritis (OA) with standard care (i.e. assessment of orthopedic surgeon). Comparison between cost-effectiveness, selection accuracy, patients perceived quality of care, quality of life and physical function will be made.

A further aim is to explore patients expectations and experiences of PT-led triage in a secondary care setting.

Detailed description: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common musculoskeletal disorder and the number of people in need of surgical treatment for hip and knee OA is increasing. The waiting time for consultation with an orthopedic surgeon (OS) is long and the majority of the patient referred for assessment are not appropriate for surgical intervention. To reduce the number of patients seen by an OS and thereby shorten the waiting time, Sahlgrenska University Hospital started a Physiotherapist-led (PT-led) triage project in 2017. With PT-led triage the patients are assessed by a physiotherapist to establish the most appropriate care management; if the patient is appropriate for surgery, should be referred for continued rehabilitation, or referred back to the referring physician. To our knowledge this model of care with PT-led triage in secondary care setting have not been scientifically evaluated in Sweden.

The aim of this project is to compare PT-led triage in a secondary care setting with standard care (i.e. assessment of OS for patients with knee or /and hip OA). A further aim is to determine if a digital triage tool can accurately predict when a primary knee or hip referral is deemed for nonsurgical versus surgical intervention by the surgeon following the first consultation.

Patients referred from primary care to Sahlgrenska University hospital with primary hip and/or knee OA will be included and randomized to consultation with either PT (triage) or OS (standard practice). Data about patient reported health-related quality of life, pain, function, and patients' perception of quality of care will be collected using questionnaires at baseline, 3 and 12 months after the consultation.

Data about waiting time for consultation, proportion of patients appropriate for surgery, further investigations, and data to be able to perform cost analysis will be collected from patients´ journals, the patient administration systems, both locally and via the region Västra Götaland´s database (VEGA).

A qualitative approach will be used to further investigate patients expectations and experience of a PT-led trige.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Referred to Sahlgrenska University hospital
* Primary osteoarthritis in the hip or knee
* Understanding and speaking Swedish

Exclusion Criteria:

* Prior assessment by and referral from an orthopedic surgeon for the current problem
* Secondary osteoarthritis (posttraumatic osteoarthritis, femoral head necrosis), when stated on the referral
* Referred to a specific surgeon

Primary outcomes:
measure: Short form of the Quality from Patients Perspective (QPP)
timeFrame: Baseline
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Heath-related quality of life - EuroQol (EQ5-D)
timeFrame: Baseline, 3 and 12 months
measure: Pain Disability index (PDI
timeFrame: Baseline, 3 and 12 months
measure: Forgotten Joint Score (FJS)
timeFrame: Basline, 3 and 12 months
measure: Oxford Hip/Knee Score (OHS/OHK
timeFrame: Basline, 3 and 12 months
Other outcomes:
measure: Patients expectations and experiences of PT-led triage
timeFrame: Interviews sep 2024-nov 2024
Locations:
city: Gothenburg
country: Sweden
facility: Sahlgrenska University Hospital
state: Västra Götaland
city: Gothenburg
country: Sweden
facility: Sahlgrenska University hospital
Study officials:
References: