Guideline Implementation in Physiotherapy

Summary

The purpose of this study is 1) to develop an intervention strategy to increase physiotherapists' adherence to evidence-based practice guidelines, 2) to try out this intervention on a small scale to determine what efficacy may be expected from it, and 3) to determine the value of a planned, systematic and theory-based approach that was followed in developing and implementing the intervention.

Conditions

• Low Back Pain

Interventions

OTHER

Behavioral and managerial

The quality improvement program is a multi-level intervention program to increase adherence to the Dutch physical therapy Guidelines for Low Back Pain. It consists of two program parts, one for practice quality managers and the other for individual therapists. The management part aims to increase commitment amongst practice owners towards high quality of care, including the appropriate use of guidelines, and addresses the structure and the culture of the physical therapy practice. This part of the program is based on the INK management model and the colour model of De Caluwé. The individual part of the intervention is aimed at increasing physical therapists' guideline adherence by raising awareness and improving recording and clinical reasoning. This part of the intervention is based on psychosocial and educational theories and especially on the principles of Self Regulation.

OTHER

Behavioral and IT

The interventions makes use of an improved EPD for physical therapists. Compared to the existing EPDs, the EPD for the present study presents decision information for physical therapists. This decision information is directly based on the recently revised physical therapy guidelines for Low Back Pain and attached to the subsequent steps of clinical reasoning that are inherent to the diagnostic and treatment stages of the usual process of physical therapy care.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Maastricht University Medical Center

  collaborator OTHER

• ZonMw: The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development

  collaborator OTHER

• The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

  collaborator OTHER

• Royal Dutch Society for Physiotherapy

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Dutch Institute for Allied Health Care

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Radboud University Medical Center

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Rob Oostendorp, Professor · University Medical Center St Radboud Nijmegen

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2009-07-31

Primary Completion

2009-12-31

Completion

2009-12-31

Countries

• Netherlands

Study Locations