OARSI Joint Effort Initiative seeks to improve remote, online care in COVID-19 setting
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The COVID-19 pandemic served to drive the creation and uptake of novel online osteoarthritis management programs, according to a speaker at the 2021 OARSI World Congress virtual meeting.
“For the person with OA, the COVID-19 pandemic may have affected them in multiple ways,” Jonathan G. Quicke, PhD, academic clinical lecturer in physiotherapy at Keele University in Staffordshire, the UK, said in his presentation.
In addition to increased symptoms due to decreased office visits, these patients may have experienced depression or anxiety, reduced physical activity, less social activity and COVID itself.
“It is from this context that the initiative emerged,” Quicke said.
The OARSI Joint Effort Initiative (JEI) is a collaboration between international researchers, clinicians and knowledge brokers with an interest in the implementation of osteoarthritis management programs (OAMPS). “It is a growing group with 34 members representing 14 different countries,” Quicke said.
The aim is to improve OA care overall, with a focus on personalized care and the basic interventions of education, exercise and weight loss.
In responding to COVID-19, the OARSI JEI sought to create a repository resource for clinicians managing OA patients, and the specific challenges brought on by the pandemic.
The project was created in a number of steps. Online OAMPs were reviewed and screened, after which the repository was created and resources were mobilized where necessary. The creators then reflected on how the program was affecting patients and practitioners and made adjustments.
Ultimately, seven programs were included. These were Introduced OAMPS, ESCAPE Pain, JIGSAW-E, PEAK, Joint Academy, Join-to-Move and Osteoarthritis Management HWFL.
Once the programs had been chosen, information about them was shared on JEI networks, social media, the Keele University website and, ultimately, the OARSI website.
Upon reflection, the group learned a number of things about OA care through this process. “There are few widely available and remotely deliverable OAMPS internationally,” Quicke said. “Language was a potential barrier to innovation uptake.”
Regarding limitations of the current initiative, Quicke noted funding as a key inhibitor of the effectiveness of the programs, along with minimal online presence. That said, Quicke suggested that COVID-19 served as a “shared driver” of such remote innovations.
“A challenge for future rapid implementation projects is ensuring the timely involvement of all key stakeholders,” Quicke said. “There is a need to broaden the diversity and national representation within the JEI group.”
Finally, ongoing updating of the repository of information pertaining to OA care in the setting of COVID-19 is necessary, according to Quicke.
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Quicke. The OARSI "Joint Effort Initiative" Repository of Online Osteoarthritis Management Programmes: An Implementation Rapid Response During COVID-19. Presented at: OARSI 2021 World Congress on Osteoarthritis; April 29-May 1. (virtual meeting).
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