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Interprofessional Communication Concerning Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders: A Qualitative Study

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Abstract

Purpose Understanding and treating musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) requires coordination between the numerous healthcare professionals involved, including occupational physicians (OPs), general practitioners (GPs) and social insurance physicians (SIPs). The main objective of this study was to assess communication between OPs, GPs and SIPs in the management of MSDs. Methods This is a qualitative study in the form of semi-structured interviews with OPs in the French region of Brittany. The interviews were conducted until data saturation was achieved. The interviews were fully coded and analysed thematically using NVivo® software. Results The interviews were carried out among 17 OPs from companies and external occupational healthcare services who treated employees from various activity sectors. Different communication channels were used depending on the interlocutor, though they were mainly contacted by mail or phone. Most of the communication passed through the patient, either verbally or in writing. No major failure was detected in communication between the various types of practitioners, but instances of communication were influenced by various factors such as differences in perception, representation and objectives, as well as by how well the physicians knew each other. A number of instances of non-communication were found. Conclusion This study showed that patients play a key role in the interactions between different practitioners. It also revealed that different types of professional relationships depend on the objectives of the various interlocutors, which in turn vary according to their roles and competences.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Pr Yves Roquelaure for his support and Anne-Victoire Fayolle for her help in preparing the manuscript.

Funding

Funding was provided by Agence Régionale de Santé de Bretagne.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Occupational Health, Faculty of médecine, University of Rennes 1, 2, Avenue du Professeur Léon Bernard, 35000, Rennes, France

    Séverine Beyer & Thomas Gouyet

  2. EHESP, Avenue du Professeur Léon Bernard CS 74312, 35043, Rennes Cedex, France

    Véronique Daubas Letourneux

  3. Epidemiology in Occupational Health and Ergonomics (ESTER), University of Angers, 28 rue Roger Amsler Cedex 74521, 49045, Angers Cedex 01, France

    Véronique Daubas Letourneux, Audrey Petit & Cyril Begue

  4. Department of General Practice, Faculty of médecine, University of Rennes 1, 2, Avenue du Professeur Léon Bernard, 35000, Rennes, France

    Eric Mener & Sandrine Huge

  5. Department of Occupational Health, Faculty of Medicine, CHU Angers, University Hospital of Angers, 4 Rue Larrey, 49933, Angers, France

    Audrey Petit

  6. Department of General Practice, Faculty of Health, University of Angers, 28 rue Roger Amsler Cedex 74521, 49045, Angers Cedex 01, France

    Cyril Begue

Authors
  1. Séverine Beyer
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  2. Thomas Gouyet
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  3. Véronique Daubas Letourneux
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  4. Eric Mener
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  5. Sandrine Huge
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  6. Audrey Petit
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  7. Cyril Begue
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cyril Begue.

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Conflict of interest

This study was financed by the Regional Agency of Health (ARS) of Brittany and supported by the Social Insurance (CPAM) of Morbihan. The authors declare they have no other conflicts of interests.

Ethical Approval

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Angers University Hospital (No. 2014-29). All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Every physician participating in the study signed a consent form.

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Beyer, S., Gouyet, T., Letourneux, V.D. et al. Interprofessional Communication Concerning Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders: A Qualitative Study. J Occup Rehabil 28, 721–729 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-018-9755-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-018-9755-0

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