From: Educational outreach visits to improve knee osteoarthritis management in primary care
Quality Indicator | Adherence intervention group n/N (%) | Adherence control group n/N (%) | Comparison intervention-control group p-value ¥ |
---|---|---|---|
A. Diagnosis | |||
1.If a patient is clinically diagnosed with knee OA and suffering from pain resistant to conservative treatment with acetaminophen and/or NSAID,  a/ CT scan should not be used.Ω | 144/146 (98.6%) | 206/208 (99.0%) | 0.720 β |
 b/ MRI should not be used.Ω | 135/146 (92.5%) | 194/208 (93.3%) | 0.680 |
2. If a patient with knee OA has a recurrent clinically evident effusion, then he/she should be further assessed (with aspiration and analysis of synovial fluid) in order to differentiate from inflammation caused by other arthritis. | 73/73 (100%) | 104/104 (100%) | / |
B. Lifestyle/education/devices | |||
3. If a patient has knee OA, then a brace should not be prescribed (except in unicompartmental knee OA with axial deviation).Ω | 122/127α (96.1%) | 204/208 (98.1%) | 0.280 β |
C. Therapy | |||
4. If a patient has knee OA, then exercise therapy should be advised, including at least: | Â | ||
 a/ muscle strengthening Ω | 45/146 (30.8%) | 57/208 (27.4%) | 0.986 |
 b/ aerobic exercises Ω | 13/146 (8.9%) | 20/206 (9.6%) | 0.980 |
5. If a patient has knee OA, then acetaminophen up to 3 g/day should be used as the initial oral analgesic. | 58/73 (79.5%) | 88/104 (84.6%) | 0.353 |
6. If a patient has knee OA and there is no adequate response on acetaminophen, or there is severe pain and/or inflammation, then oral NSAID should be used. | 29/73 (39.7%) | 42/104 (40.4%) | 0.784 |
7. If a patient has knee OA, then chondroitin and glucosamine-chondroitin combination products should not be used.Ω | 139/146 (95.2%) | 192/208 (92.3%) | 0.280 |
8. If a patient has knee OA, then strong opioids (oxymorphone, oxycodone, fentanyl, morphine sulfate) should not be used.Ω | 146/146 (100%) | 206/206 (100%) | / |