Ndosi, M orcid.org/0000-0002-7764-3173, Ferguson, R, Backhouse, MR orcid.org/0000-0003-0056-8467 et al. (5 more authors) (2017) National variation in the composition of rheumatology multidisciplinary teams: a cross-sectional study. Rheumatology International, 37 (9). pp. 1453-1459. ISSN 0172-8172
Abstract
The objective of this study is to describe the composition of multidisciplinary teams (MDT) working within rheumatology departments across the UK. All rheumatology departments in the United Kingdom (UK) were invited to participate in a national electronic survey between February 2014 and April 2015 as a part of a national audit for the management of rheumatoid and early inflammatory arthritis commissioned by Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership. Rheumatology departments were asked to report their MDT composition; defined as a rheumatologist (consultant or specialist trainee), specialist nurse, occupational therapist physiotherapist, and podiatrist. The data were collected as Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) of each professional group at each department adjusted to 100,000 population. The data were grouped according to British Society for Rheumatology regions to study regional variations. The survey was completed by 164/167 departments (98% response rate). All departments reported an MDT comprising a rheumatologist (consultant or specialist trainee) and almost all included a specialist nurse but only 28 (17%) of the departments had MDTs comprising all the professional groups. There was a high degree of regional variation in the provision of Allied Health Professionals (physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and podiatrists) in the UK. MDT care is recommended for the management of inflammatory arthritis, but few UK rheumatology departments have a full complement of healthcare professionals within their MDT. There is a high degree of regional variation in the composition and staffing levels of the rheumatology MDT across the UK; the impact of which warrants further investigation.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. |
Keywords: | Multidisciplinary; National survey; Arthritis; Health service; Rehabilitation; Team care |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Healthcare (Leeds) > Nursing Adult (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 19 May 2017 13:26 |
Last Modified: | 23 Jun 2023 22:29 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Verlag |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s00296-017-3751-0 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:116705 |