About this Guide      

An Interactive Educational Web site

on the Management of Acute Low Back Pain

WHAT IS The BackGuideTM ? It is an educational web site for health-care providers who are involved with the management of low back pain. For best results, we recommend you use at least Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or Netscape Communicator 3.0, or another browser that supports HTML 3.2. It is also a tool designed to improve patient care and foster better use of valuable health care resources and can be used by facilitators in small workshops or for self-directed learning. It is based on research conducted by the U.S. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) and developed by the Institute for Work & Health, Toronto in collaboration with the University of Calgary What are the contents of The BackGuideTM? Case Studies: -present diagnostic and therapeutic challenges for the user -contain patient history and examination findings -highlight red and pink flags -invite user to choose appropriate investigations, patient education, medications and additional therapies -provide immediate feedback on agreement with guidelines Guidelines: -provide detailed information on guideline development, recommendations and references -consist of seven sections: initial assessment, patient information, symptom control, activity modification, special studies, -surgical information and psychosocial factors -for quick reference, each section provides a summary and specific AHCPR recommendations -contain evidence on efficacy, potential harms and costs Care Plan: -directs participants through algorithms outlining the management of low back pain -focuses on the identification of red flags -directs user to investigations most likely to facilitate diagnosis -provides background information specific to each step -includes information about underlying causes, natural history trajectories, sensitivity and specificity of clinical findings and laboratory tests How can I find out more ? For more information on the web site contact Vicki Pennick. by phone: 416-927-2027 ext 2158 by fax: 416-927-4167 by e-mail: vpennick@iwh.on.ca

The The BackGuide_TM was created by the Institute for Work & Health and University of Calgary.

Institute for Work & Health Working Group

Claire Bombardier, MD,FRCP(C),(Chair)1,4,7 Geoff Anderson, MD,PhD2,6 Edward Gibson, MD, CCBOM3 Richard Glazier, MD,MPH,CCFP4,5,7,8

Gwen Jansz, PhD,MD,CCFP1,5,8 Andreas Maetzel, MD,MSc1,7 Stephan Radu, MD1 Victoria Pennick, RN,BScN,MHSc1

¹ Institute for Work & Health, Toronto, Canada
² Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Canada
³ McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
⁴ University of Toronto, Clinical Epidemiology & Health Care Research Program, Toronto, Canada
⁵ University of Toronto, Department of Family & Community Medicine, Toronto, Canada
⁶ University of Toronto, Department of Health Administration, Toronto, Canada
⁷ Healthcare Research - A Division of the Arthritis & Immune Disorder Research, Toronto, Canada
⁸ St. Michael's Hospital, Wellesley Division, Department of Family & Community Medicine, Toronto, Canada

University of Calgary Working Group

Steven Edworthy, MD, FRCP(C) Arni Nutting, BSc

Rafael Talavera, Ag. Eng., MBA, Comp. Tech. Margaret Watson, BSc, MSc, Cert. AMWA

The World Wide Web implementation of this guide was designed by New Media Interactive.