General Practitioners' Performance in Treating Shoulder Complaints
Author Information
Author(s): Camiel De Bruijn, Rob Bie, Jacques Geraets, Marielle Goossens, Albère Köke, Wim van den Heuvel, Geert-Jan Dinant
Primary Institution: Maastricht University
Hypothesis
How well do trained general practitioners administer the education and activation program for shoulder complaints compared to usual care?
Conclusion
General practitioners in the usual care group performed better than expected, while those in the education and activation program group did not meet the desired performance level.
Supporting Evidence
- The mean total score on the EAP checklist was 4.7 for the UC group and 7.1 for the EAP group.
- Neither group reached a score higher than 8, indicating an acceptable number of key EAP features.
- The EAP group scored higher than the UC group, but both groups performed below the desired level.
Takeaway
Doctors treating shoulder pain did better than we thought, but the new training program didn't help them as much as we hoped.
Methodology
Five trained GPs and five GPs administering usual care were videotaped during consultations, and their performances were evaluated using an EAP checklist.
Potential Biases
The Hawthorne effect may have influenced the performance of GPs due to being videotaped.
Limitations
The study had a small sample size and did not measure the quality of how key features were administered.
Participant Demographics
Mean age of GPs in the EAP group was 48.0 years, and in the UC group was 45.6 years; experience was 19.4 years for EAP and 16.8 years for UC.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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