Development of patient-centred standards of care for osteoarthritis in Europe: the eumusc.net-project

Purpose: The eumusc.net project is an initiative founded by the European Community and the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR). One aim of the project was to facilitate equal standards for musculoskeletal health across Europe. The aim of this work-package was to develop patient-centred and evidence-based standards of care (SOC) for Osteoarthritis (OA), which should be available in a professional and a patient version. Methods: A systematic review concerning guidelines dealing with OA was conducted. Furthermore, experts in musculoskeletal diseases were contacted to ensure that “grey” literature was not excluded. Documents that fulfilled pre-defined inclusion/ exclusion criteria were included and all interventions for OA were extracted and categorised. Based on this list of interventions, a three round Delphi exercise with an international and multidisciplinary expert panel (26 experts from ten countries), including patient research partners, was performed to achieve expert consensus. Results: Six documents were included and used for further analysis. Out of them 46 interventions have been extracted and ten evidence based SOC were formulated. In addition, a patient version, written in a lay-understandable wording and in the format of check-list questions was developed. An example is SOC 5: “People with OA should achieve optimal pain control using pharmacological and non-pharmacological means.” The matching patient-centred checklist question reads: “Do I know how to control pain associated with OA?” Conclusion: The SOC for OA will be available in the 23 languages of the European Union to enhance unified information to patients and professionals and to further harmonize the treatment of OA within Europe.