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. 2023 Dec;28(1):2172755.
doi: 10.1080/10872981.2023.2172755.

The needs, barriers, and opportunities perceived by health professionals for an online competency-based interprofessional course to enhance the care of older adults with chronic musculoskeletal pain

Marta Martín-Carbonell  1 , Yuli Suárez Colorado  1 , Doriam Camacho-Rodríguez  2 , Maria Yaquelin Expósito-Concepción  3 , Salín Touchie-Meza  4 , Doris Sequeira Daza  5 , Luz Karinne González Julio  2
Affiliations

The needs, barriers, and opportunities perceived by health professionals for an online competency-based interprofessional course to enhance the care of older adults with chronic musculoskeletal pain

Marta Martín-Carbonell et al. Med Educ Online. 2023 Dec.

Abstract

Background: It is recommended that continued education in pain should be supported using information and communication technologies (ICTs), but there are gaps about the previous competencies of health professionals, especially in low- and middle-income countries. This study characterized the competencies of professionals in the Colombian Caribbean, the circumstances that favor and hinder the development of appropriate care, as well as the preferences, expectations and attitudes toward an educational intervention supported by ICTs.

Methods: We used a qualitative, phenomenological approach, combining documentary review and data obtained through observation, an online survey and two focus groups involving 55 healthcare professionals (physicians, nurses and psychologists) of varying experience. For the analysis and integration of results, the Capacity, Opportunity, Motivation and Behavior model and the Theoretical Domains Framework were used as references. The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) checklist guided the reporting of this study.

Results: Competency deficits were found regardless of the profession and experience, which are related to inadequacies in undergraduate and post-graduate training. Structural problems in Colombian society and healthcare service organization were also discovered, which were considered unmodifiable barriers and have been aggravated by the social, economic and health effects of the pandemic. The main modifiable barriers found were as follows: pain underestimation and under-treatment of older adults, as well as stereotypes regarding old age and pain, lack of knowledge of the psychosocial determinants of pain and of techniques for its assessment and treatment, overestimation of pharmacological treatment and failure to update pharmacological and non-pharmacological techniques.

Conclusions: Recommendations for the design of the educational intervention were established as follows: favoring non-synchronous resources, facilitating synchronous activities of short duration, facilitating permanent access to information and resources and generating incentives for continuing education, such as certification, institutional recognition and encouraging popular recognition.

Keywords: Colombian healthcare professionals; Older adults; chronic musculoskeletal pain; pain education; qualitative research.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Frequency with which older adults request care for pain in non-specialized consultations.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Importance given by health professionals to pain in older adults.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Evaluation of the frequency that healthcare professionals show empathy for the pain experienced by older adults.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Quality of care received by older adults according to healthcare professionals.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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