A multidisciplinary case conference model to conservatively manage hip and knee osteoarthritis: a pre-pilot feasibility and proof-of-concept study

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent, debilitating and costly chronic condition. National and international guidelines recommend the conservative treatment strategies of body mass reduction and exercise for the management of hip and knee OA because of the strong evidence to support the efficacy of these interventions. Despite this, these conservative management strategies are currently underutilised in Australia. Appropriately designed, novel models of care may play a role in improving the utilisation of appropriate conservative treatment strategies for hip and knee OA. Therefore, a qualitative study was conducted to investigate patient and clinician perspectives of a novel multidisciplinary case conference model to conservatively manage hip and knee OA within a primary care setting. METHODS: Qualitative data were collected via telephone-based semi-structured one-on-one interviews with patients with OA (n = 11), general practitioners (n = 2), accredited exercise physiologists (n = 2), accredited practising dietitians (n = 2) and practice nurses (n = 2). RESULTS: Thematic content analysis led to the generation of four major themes from the data: (i) potential benefits; (ii) foreseeable challenges; (iii) the benefit-engagement cycle and (iv) maintenance of lifestyle changes. CONCLUSION: The proposed multidisciplinary model of care to conservatively manage hip and knee OA was perceived by both patients and clinicians to have many benefits and a limited number of manageable challenges. The identified challenges provide guidance on how the model should be refined before it is implemented in clinical practice.