Advancing Surveillance of Arthritis in Primary Care

According to the 2001 Canadian Community Health Survey, approximately 91% of Canadians have seen a primary care physician in the prior year. It has been estimated that 1 in 5 visits to primary care physicians is for arthritis. Dr. Hawker and her colleagues believe that since primary care physicians follow their patients for many years and play a key role in health promotion and disease prevention, the primary care setting is the best environment for tracking arthritis in the population.

A pilot project, funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada, was carried out by our research team to assess the feasibility of establishing a practice-based arthritis surveillance registry in a large urban Primary Care Health Team. This registry will support acquisition, effective utilization and dissemination of knowledge to enhance arthritis health for Canadians. Results from our project demonstrated that establishing a practice-based surveillance registry using pre-determined arthritis surveillance indicators to assess quality of arthritis care within our WCH Family Practice was feasible. Implementation of such strategies in a primary care environment will not only enable measurement of quality of care to improve the understanding of health needs of patients with arthritis but could also enhance practice-based research aimed at improving arthritis clinical practice. These findings have been disseminated to our Primary Care Health Team through various knowledge translation meetings.