Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Osteoarthritis is a painful joint disease that affects over 6 million Canadians. The knee joint is one of the most commonly affected joints. Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) starts with mild joint pain and stiffness that worsens to extreme pain often requiring surgery if left untreated. Being able to identify people with KOA in primary care at an early stage would help promote best-practice treatment. Yet, primary care clinicians report many barriers to identifying and treating KOA. This study will target this gap by using electronic medical records (EMR) from primary care clinicians who participate in the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network to identify patients with KOA at an earlier stage. Next, a pan-Canadian KOA registry will be set up to learn about risk factors and health indicators of KOA. Lastly, an online KOA dashboard will be pilot tested in a small group of primary care clinicians. This dashboard will combine the EMR data with patient reported outcome data on pain, symptoms, physical activity, and quality of life to improve the treatment of their KOA patients.