Individual research recommendation details

Recommendation ID

NG65/3

Question

Educational intervention to improve healthcare professionals' awareness of spondyloarthritis:- What is the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of educational interventions for healthcare professionals in order to increase the number of prompt diagnoses of spondyloarthritis?

Any explanatory notes
(if applicable)

Why this is important:- One of the major reasons for the delays in diagnosing spondyloarthritis is a lack of awareness of the condition by healthcare professionals. This can take many forms, such as a lack of awareness of different spondyloarthritis subtypes, lack of knowledge about associated clinical features (for example, the differences between inflammatory and mechanical back pain) or characteristics of the patient populations (for example, that spondyloarthritis affects similar numbers of men and women, or that a substantial proportion of people with spondyloarthritis are HLA-B27 negative).
Educational interventions to improve the level of awareness may therefore lead to reductions in diagnosis delays, but there is a lack of evidence as to the efficacy of these interventions. Randomised controlled trials of structured educational interventions are therefore needed to assess both whether they reduce the length of time it takes for people to be correctly diagnosed, and whether they represent a cost-effective use of NHS resources.

Source guidance details

Comes from guidance

Spondyloarthritis in over 16s: diagnosis and management

Number

NG65

Date issued

February 2017

Other details