Community pharmacy's role in the management of musculoskeletal health

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Explorations of community pharmacy extended health advice for musculoskeletal and long-term health conditions: A focused ethnography.

• IRAS ID

  314242

• Contact name

  Angela Long

• Contact email

  angela.long@northumbria.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Northumbria University at Newcastle

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 2 months, 28 days

• Research summary

  Around 1 in 3 people in the UK live with a musculoskeletal (MSK) condition and they are the biggest causes of the growing burden of disability, often occurring alongside other long-term conditions. We are living longer than ever before, but many people are living longer in poorer health. As we age, the likelihood of developing common MSK conditions, such as back pain or osteoarthritis (OA), increases. Living with poor MSK health can lead to a reduced quality of life, long term-disability, loss of employment, as well as placing a significant burden on NHS services.

  By adopting a more public health view to the management of MSK health, health professionals in the community could be more engaged in supporting people to better manage their MSK health. In addition to pain relief drugs, people with common MSK conditions such as OA and back pain are recommended to change their lifestyle and try to better manage their own symptoms. However, the support they need to do this is not always available or adequate.

  Community pharmacy has recently been highlighted as a key resource for delivering and promoting health and wellbeing advice in the community. If community pharmacy could provide lifestyle advice and help people to better manage their MSK conditions, then this could reduce the demand on scarce NHS resources.

  This research aims to better understand the role that community pharmacy plays, and could play in the future, in the management of age related MSK conditions. This study aims to do this by:

  • Observing community pharmacy staff and how they currently carry out their day-today roles with regards to health and wellbeing advice
  • Explore the views, beliefs and attitudes of community pharmacy staff around the delivery of health and wellbeing advice for those with MSK and long-term conditions
  

• REC name

  North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 2 Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  22/NE/0221

• Date of REC Opinion

  22 Nov 2022

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion