Abstract

Purpose: Decision support tools (DSTs) are thought to help shared-decision making (SDM) within clinical practice and to make treatment, care and support options explicit to patients. NHS England is committed to the integration of DSTs into pathways of care and view them as a core component of the delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog. To date, there has been no evaluation of the DSTs and their use within musculoskeletal practice (MSK) in supporting SDM, or in terms of their feasibility and ease of use. The overarching aim of this project was to evaluate the use of the DST for hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA) within the MSK pathway by capturing patients' perceptions of the tool in their care and to also examine clinicians' views of them to facilitate SDM.