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Chronic low back pain: non-clinical factors impacting on management by Irish doctors

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Abstract

Introduction

General practitioners and consultants in the Republic of Ireland manage patients with chronic low back pain (LBP), but little is known about the non-clinical factors that impact on their management.

Aim

To establish the non-clinical factors that impact on the management of chronic LBP by a cohort of general practitioners and consultants.

Methods

Using a multiple case study design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with general practitioners (n = 7) and consultants (n = 7). Interviews were transcribed and analysed qualitatively.

Results

Two main themes emerged: policy factors (the health care system, the medico-legal system), and patient factors (need for reassurance, lack of patient adherence).

Conclusions

These factors operate at national and local levels. Nationally, they underscore the lack of resources, and the impact of the medico-legal system. Local issues include changing practice by reassuring patients using evidence-based biopsychosocial strategies to maximise patient care and reduce healthcare costs.

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Acknowledgments

The GPs and consultants who participated in the study.

Funding body:

Health Research Board Project Grant 2005/297.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physiotherapy and Performance Science, Health Science Centre, University College Dublin, Dublin, Republic of Ireland

    B. M. Fullen, C. Doody & D. A. Hurley

  2. Centre for Physiotherapy Research, School of Physiotherapy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    G. David Baxter

  3. School of Public Health and Population Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Republic of Ireland

    L. E. Daly

Authors
  1. B. M. Fullen
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  2. C. Doody
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  3. G. David Baxter
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  4. L. E. Daly
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  5. D. A. Hurley
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to B. M. Fullen.

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Fullen, B.M., Doody, C., David Baxter, G. et al. Chronic low back pain: non-clinical factors impacting on management by Irish doctors. Ir J Med Sci 177, 257–263 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-008-0174-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-008-0174-7

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