Centre for Wellbeing and Quality of Life

Back Pain Management in Primary Care: Patients and Doctors’ Expectations

Page published 12 April 2010

PhD Student and Deputy Director of CeWQoL has article published in the Journal of Quality in Primary Care.

Ehab E Georgy, CeWQoL PhD Research Student and Eloise CJ Carr, Associate Dean (Postgraduate Students) and there colleague Alan C Breen, from Institute for Musculoskeletal Research and Clinical Implementation, Anglo-European College of Chiropractic, have successfully had an article entitled "Back Pain Management in Primary Care: Patients and Doctors’ Expectations" accepted for publication. This article has been published in the December 2009 edition of Quality in Primary Care, Volume 17, Number 6, December 2009, pp. 405-413(9). Other contributions include Finlay, Karen; McLaren, Susan on "Does appraisal enhance learning, improve practice and encourage continuing professional development? A survey of general practitioners’ experiences of appraisal."

The authors argue expectations may be a key element for improving quality of health care, yet, several barriers interfere with understanding and optimizing expectations in back pain primary care. Expectations are defined and conceptualised in various way, several terms are used interchangeably suggesting a lack of clear definition and conceptual framework. Patients have a wide range of specific expectations for care, which can be measured, and may play a vital role in their satisfaction. Doctors also seem to have their own expectations; still, studies of such expectations are scarce and there is a lack of valid measurement tools to capture such aspect. The authors propose a need for the standardization of definition in expectations research and a valid measurement tool that is condition-specific. Understanding patients and doctors expectations may be a key factor for improving quality of care, in terms of process and outcome.