Improving reassurance in orthopaedic spinal teams (Version 1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Improving reassurance in orthopaedic spinal teams
IRAS ID
277211
Contact name
Tamar Pincus
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Holloway University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 1 days
Research summary
Orthopaedic practitioners see many patients with chronic musculoskeletal back pain for which surgery is not indicated. Some of these patients will be referred on to other conservative interventions, but many (our research suggests around 25%) will be discharged without treatment, often because all other alternatives have been exhausted. Our research (Braeuninger-Weimer et al., 2019) also suggests that these patients receive less reassurance and are less satisfied: instead of accepting the need to self-manage their problem, they feel dismissed, disbelieved and abandoned. Orthopaedic practitioners often fail to engage with patients’ psychosocial problems, or address their concerns. We propose to develop a brief intervention to train orthopaedic practitioners to deliver effective reassurance and address patients’ needs in circumstances where further treatment and surgery are not an option. We will develop the intervention through a synthesis of published literature and qualitative interviews, and will then carry out a proof- of-concept investigation, by comparing patients’ perceptions of their consultations with 10 UK-based practitioners a month before and a month after the training. For those discharged without a recommendation of surgery, we will also explore intention to re-consult. This study prepares the ground for the next of investigation, which will focus on optimal delivery methods (e.g. on-line), leading to a full trial of a brief and accessible training intervention that could prevent distress and subsequent health-care costs in large numbers of patients, while providing support and increasing confidence in practitioners.
REC name
London - Bloomsbury Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/LO/0290
Date of REC Opinion
2 Mar 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion