|
|
|
| |||
|
|
Recent Grants MadePrimary Care Evaluation and Implementation Study Investigators: Jennifer Langworthy & Alan Breen BackCare has awarded a grant of £11.3K to The Institute for Musculoskeletal Research and Clinical Implementation (MRCI) to evaluated the National Sentinel Audit Toolkit for Acute Low Back Pain and its use in primary care. This audit tool was based on the Royal College of General Practitioners' Acute Low Back Pain Guideline and was one of 10 'Sentinel' audits initiated by the National Health Service Executive and subsequently given over to the National Institute for Clinical Excellence. The study will investigate harriers to implementation of both the guideline and the audit toolkit, particularly in the context of clinical governance. Implementation of the UK guideline has been slow in the NHS and despite a national health policy to monitor healthcare quality, until recently there was no instrument with which to do this for low back pain. In 1998, IMRCI received central funding to develop, in collaboration with colleagues from general practice, osteopathy and physiotherapy, a multidisciplinary audit toolkit for primary care, which would aid implementation of the guideline and provide a quality assurance process. In September 2000, the clinical Governance Leads in all English and Welsh Health Authorities were sent a copy of the toolkit and the Clinical Effectiveness Leads in all Primary Care Groups/Trusts in England and Wales were informed of its availability. To date it is not known how widely it has been disseminated or implemented and what impact it may have had. The work funded by BackCare will explore issues surrounding the acceptability of the toolkit and its utilisation, particularly in relation to recognised barriers to implementation. If the toolkit has been well received but not well implemented, we hope to establish where in the system such initiatives may falter. The study will attempt
to identify barriers to implementation from the perspective of Thos charged
with facilitating evidence-based practice. It is hoped that information
gathered will help to identify the main barriers to implementation of
evidence from key perspectives in order the future work can be targeted
more specifically to overcome these difficulties. Jenny Langworthy said,
"This study complements other projects being undertaken by IMRCI
investigating the implementation process from practitioner and patient
viewpoints". The toolkit is for use by general practice, chiropractors, osteopaths and specialist physiotherapists and can be downloaded from IMRCI's website: www.imrci.ac.uk
| ||
