STANDARD 4
OVERVIEW
Key Messages for Osteoarthritis Education
- Should be offered to all individuals diagnosed with OA, and continued to be offered throughout their lifetime.
- Empowers and equips the individual with the knowledge and tools to self-manage their condition and health outcomes.
- May offer broad introductory information such as an introduction to OA class or introduction to nutrition class.
- May be offered to understand a specific treatment, such as about how a pool exercise program is going to work, the GLA:D™ education classes, or classes on self-management coping strategies.
KEY RESOURCES
- Presentation – Slide deck for OA Education Class
- Shared Decision-Making Toolkit
- OA Self Management Toolkit
- SAMPLE Resource Inventory
- TEMPLATE Resource Inventory
- FORM to Document/Modify a Care Plan for Management of OA
- Tables of Examples for the Treatment Toolbox
- Health Change Methodology
- Alberta Referral Directory
INTRODUCTION
Education should be offered to all individuals diagnosed with osteoarthritis (OA), and continued to be offered throughout their lifetime to address their knowledge gaps. Education empowers and equips the individual with OA with the knowledge and tools to self-manage their condition and health outcomes. Selecting new education options with each revision of a care plan will allow for:
- Basic information about OA to be regularly refreshed
- Emerging evidence for OA to be translated in a reasonable time frame to the individual
- Opportunities to build community with others living with OA and
- A chance to inspire selection and revisiting of treatment options and self-management strategies, particularly for symptom management options including:
- Thermotherapy (Standard 7) and
- Activity self-selection (Standard 5)
At all follow-up visits, reassess the individual’s symptoms and function and offer additional education resources that will support the individual’s current needs and goals. Information they are directed to should address the individual’s needs, goals, preferences and values while also incorporating health change principles.
OA EDUCATION CLASSES
There are two types of education classes relevant to individuals with OA:
- Education classes that provide broad, possibly introductory, information about a topic:
- i.e. An introduction to OA class.
- i.e. An introduction to nutrition and OA class.
- Education classes that are specific to understanding a treatment:
- i.e. Education about how a pool exercise program will affect their joints and how to adapt exercises for their needs.
- i.e. Good Life with osteoarthritis: Denmark (GLA:D) education sessions.
- i.e. Self-management coping strategy classes.
DESIGNING OA EDUCATION
Education sessions can be delivered in verbal, written and/or virtual formats.
The OA Self Management Education Booklet aligns with the topics for an introduction to OA education and can be provided to the individual with OA as early as first confirmation of diagnosis. There is also an accompanying Powerpoint presentation for the booklet. Examples of publicly available materials are provided in the Health Resources Matrix.
Look for community organizations as well as health organizations to find applicable educational programs. For instance, a recreation centre may have an OA focused class. Build relationships with local educational programs and keep a Resource Inventory up to date with the program schedule for these classes and to ensure individuals with OA are directed to the program that is most applicable to their gaps in knowledge.
If there are no local education programs running in the area, consider running one. Consider using group teaching to build a community for individuals with OA to connect with one another. Locally developed materials should align with these standards, the OA Treatments and best evidence. Successful education material should be presented in ‘patient friendly’ language and offer opportunities for interaction and question answering. Consider partnering with other agencies or programs as well to deliver a multi-disciplinary approach.
INTRODUCTION
- Basic information about OA to be regularly refreshed
- Emerging evidence for OA to be translated in a reasonable time frame to the individual
- Opportunities to build community with others living with OA and
- A chance to inspire selection and revisiting of treatment options and self-management strategies, particularly for symptom management options including:
- Thermotherapy (Standard 7) and
- Activity self-selection (Standard 5)
At all follow-up visits, reassess the individual’s symptoms and function and offer additional education resources that will support the individual’s current needs and goals. Information they are directed to should address the individual’s needs, goals, preferences and values while also incorporating health change principles.
OA EDUCATION CLASSES
- Education classes that provide broad, possibly introductory, information about a topic:
- i.e. An introduction to OA class.
- i.e. An introduction to nutrition and OA class.
- Education classes that are specific to understanding a treatment:
- i.e. Education about how a pool exercise program will affect their joints and how to adapt exercises for their needs.
- i.e. Good Life with osteoarthritis: Denmark (GLA:D) education sessions.
- i.e. Self-management coping strategy classes.
DESIGNING OA EDUCATION
The OA Self Management Education Booklet aligns with the topics for an introduction to OA education and can be provided to the individual with OA as early as first confirmation of diagnosis. There is also an accompanying Powerpoint presentation for the booklet. Examples of publicly available materials are provided in the Health Resources Matrix.
Look for community organizations as well as health organizations to find applicable educational programs. For instance, a recreation centre may have an OA focused class. Build relationships with local educational programs and keep a Resource Inventory up to date with the program schedule for these classes and to ensure individuals with OA are directed to the program that is most applicable to their gaps in knowledge.
If there are no local education programs running in the area, consider running one. Consider using group teaching to build a community for individuals with OA to connect with one another. Locally developed materials should align with these standards, the OA Treatments and best evidence. Successful education material should be presented in ‘patient friendly’ language and offer opportunities for interaction and question answering. Consider partnering with other agencies or programs as well to deliver a multi-disciplinary approach.
Introductory Education Class on Osteoarthritis
An introduction to Osteoarthritis (OA) class should include the following topics:
- Overview of OA: Causes, symptoms and prognosis
- Self-management strategies:
- Daily symptom management through:
- Application of thermotherapies; and
- Activity self-selection.
- Healthy behaviours and lifestyle modifications:
- Nutrition; and
- Physical activity.
- Daily symptom management through:
- Core Treatments and Adjunct Treatments and the strength of evidence available for each
- Importance of each Core Treatment: education, exercise and physical activity, and weight management
- Safe movements for joints;
- Benefits and risks of Pharmacological and Non-Pharmacological treatments;
- Safe use of walking aids and assistive devices;
- The role of the Primary Clinician and how supporting clinicians will have different expertise to support other treatments;
- The importance of making a care plan with specific goals and updating that care plan as symptoms and life evolve; and
- Tracking symptoms and treatment trials.
OA Self Management Toolkit
OA Self Management Toolkit, Includes:
OA Self Management Toolkit, Includes:
Self-Management
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive disease with no cure. Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) and Patient and Community Engagement Research (PaCER) findings have concluded that the individual needs to have control of their care journey. The individual lives with their evolving disease every day, while the clinicians only provide support for short periods of time or short interactions1313Not available.. Throughout these nine standards, the principles of self-management are reinforced. Confidence in self-management can be supported by employing ‘family and patient-centred care’ principles using shared decision-making techniques.
All the processes and strategies described in these standards focus on empowering the individual to gain knowledge and to make choices for their OA journey based on that expanding knowledge. The principles of self-management are crucial to day-to-day symptom management. Symptoms of OA can flare up without explanation and the empowered, engaged and educated individual will be able to take action when this occurs.
As care progresses, every clinician should support the individual to gain confidence in applying their expanding OA knowledge to make treatment and self-management choices. Self-management strategies for OA include:
- Priority and goal setting
- Self-evaluation
- Problem-solving
- Mental health management
- Symptom management:
- Thermotherapies
- Activity self-selection
- Seeking clinician appointments as needed
More detail is provided in Standard 7 for those individuals who want to build more confidence in self-management techniques.
Alberta Referral Directory
Alberta Referral Directory to assist with:
- Identifying diagnostic imaging locations
- Orthopaedic surgery referral requirements to the Alberta Hip and Knee Program (if appropriate)
- Designing a local Resource Inventory and keeping it up to date
- Referral to other clinicians
Resource Inventory Notes
Resource Inventory Notes:
- Form clinic partnerships to create a common Resource Inventory for your local region
- Assign one person to review and update the Resource Inventory regularly
- Build relationships with the services listed on your Resource Inventory to make transition between care as smooth as possible for the individual with OA
- Keep accurate records of cost and wait times for local services to assist individuals wherever possible
Shared Decision Making
The inter-twining principles that ground the Comprehensive Quality Care Standards for Osteoarthritis of the Hip and Knee.
Shared decision-making (SDM) techniques and processes are emphasized throughout these standards. The use of SDM is essential to achieving ‘family and patient-centric’ care. SDM is evidence-based and proven to improve outcomes for the individual such as satisfaction with and adherence to care plans.
Standard 2 describes how sharing the decision making is important for building a care plan. This toolkit This toolkit provides more detail on the 3-talk model that can be used to practice SDM in everyday practice.