RR380 - Effective management of upper limb disorders by general practitioners and trainee occupational physicians
The Institute of Occupational and Environmental Medicine were commissioned to carry out research to identify how health professionals could become more effective in the clinical management of cases of work related upper limb disorders, to identify their training needs and to investigate discrepancies between current and best practice.
The objectives of the study were to:
- Identify current best practice in the clinical management of work related upper limb disorders by reviewing the literature and contacting relevant institutions and associations.
- To determine the nature of teaching on this subject in the training of Occupational Physicians and GPs.
- To gather information via focus groups and questionnaire survey to identify perceived difficulties in the management of upper limb disorders and identify training needs.
- To review key findings from the previous steps and to report results and recommendations.
The study found that there was a lack of good quality of research for specific disorders but some evidence was identified. Education on this topic in the UK was reviewed. The focus groups were used to develop the questionnaire. The questionnaire response rate was not high but results were summarised.
The recommendations from this study include improving teaching of this topic at undergraduate level, ensuring access to professional groups by practitioners, improving the evidence base by better quality research, producing guidelines for best practice, ensuring that training is more accessible and examining other media that can be used in
This report and the work it describes were funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE policy.
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