Institute of Bone and Joint Research, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Department of Rheumatology, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia.
BMJ Open. 2020 Jul 19;10(7):e035030. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-035030.
Musculoskeletal pain is a leading cause of disability globally. In geographically and socioeconomically diverse countries, such as Australia, care seeking when someone experiences musculoskeletal pain is varied and potentially influenced by their individual characteristics, access to practitioners or perceived trustworthiness of information. This study explored how consumers currently access healthcare, how well it is trusted and if sociodemographic factors influenced healthcare utilisation.
Anonymous online observational survey.
Australia.
A convenience sample of 831 community-based individuals (18+ years).
Descriptive analyses and generalised estimating equations were used to quantify healthcare-seeking behaviours, sources and trust of health information for (A) first-contact practitioners, (B) medical practitioners, and (C) other sources of information.
Of the 761 respondents, 73% were females, 54% resided in capital cities. 68% of respondents had experienced pain or injury in more than one lower limb joint. Despite this, more than 30% of respondents only sought help when there had not been natural resolution of their pain. Physiotherapists had the highest odds of being seen, asked and trusted for healthcare information. The odds of seeking care from general practitioners were no higher than seeking information from an expert website. Older individuals and women exhibited higher odds of seeking, asking and trusting health information.
Intelligible and trustworthy information must be available for consumers experiencing lower limb pain. Individuals, particularly younger people, are seeking information from multiple, unregulated sources. This suggests that healthcare professionals may need to invest time and resources into improving the trustworthiness and availability of healthcare information to improve healthcare quality.
肌肉骨骼疼痛是全球导致残疾的主要原因。在地理位置和社会经济多样化的国家，如澳大利亚，当有人经历肌肉骨骼疼痛时，寻求治疗的方式各不相同，可能受到个人特征、获得医生的机会或对信息的信任程度的影响。本研究探讨了消费者目前如何获得医疗保健，他们对医疗保健的信任程度，以及社会人口因素是否影响医疗保健的利用。
匿名在线观察性调查。
澳大利亚。
一个由 831 名社区居民（18 岁以上）组成的方便样本。
使用描述性分析和广义估计方程来量化医疗保健寻求行为、第一接触医生、医疗保健提供者和其他信息来源的信任度。
在 761 名应答者中，73%为女性，54%居住在首府城市。68%的应答者经历过一个以上下肢关节的疼痛或损伤。尽管如此，超过 30%的应答者只有在疼痛没有自然缓解时才寻求帮助。物理治疗师被认为是最有可能被咨询、寻求和信任医疗保健信息的医生。选择看全科医生的几率并不高于从专家网站获取信息。年龄较大的个体和女性表现出更高的寻求、询问和信任健康信息的几率。
对于经历下肢疼痛的患者，必须提供易懂和值得信赖的信息。个人，特别是年轻人，正在从多个不受监管的来源获取信息。这表明医疗保健专业人员可能需要投入时间和资源来提高医疗保健信息的可信度和可用性，以提高医疗保健质量。
