The COVID-19 pandemic has had numerous impacts on musculoskeletal care including decreased access to diagnostic procedures, increased wait time for non-urgent orthopaedic surgeries, and a change in patient encounters with health care providers. Orthopaedic surgeons soon realized that a typical office/clinic visit as a first consult or follow-up would no longer be the same. The absence of in-person appointments highlighted a need for change in the way health care providers schedule appointments and assess patients.
In response to this need for change, Bone and Joint Canada (BJC) assembled a team of musculoskeletal professionals involved in completing patient assessments. The team of professionals (Orthopaedic Surgeons, Neurosurgeons, Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Rheumatologists, Sports Medicine Professionals, and Chiropractors) used their combined expertise to develop a “toolkit” that would help identify best practices and to make available the most up-to-date information on completing virtual assessments for MSK patients. UBC Orthopaedics faculty members Dr. Adrian Huang, Dr. Lisa Howard, and Dr. Pierre Guy were part of the team that developed the document.
Rhona McGlasson, BJC’s Executive Director, lead a series of online meetings and email exchanges to develop a final document which was recently released. The toolkit serves as a reference document for patients, surgeons, and their office staff.
