Table 1.
General practice and general practitioner baseline characteristics
| Participated in patient recruitment and posted questionnaire | Dropped out of CRT prior to patient recruitment | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Practice factors at baseline | N practices | N practices | ||
| Number of practices | 81 | 11 | ||
| Number of GPs per practice (SD) | 81 | 5 (3.8) | 11 | 6 (4.1) |
| No. (%) rural practices | 81 | 29 (36) | 11 | 2 (18) |
| No. (%) with x-ray facility on site | 80 | 3 (4) | 9 | 1 (11) |
| No. (%) of industrial practices | 81 | 7 (9) | 9 | 0 (0) |
| No. (%) of training practices | 80 | 51 (64) | 9 | 6 (67) |
| Method of billing: | 76 | 9 | ||
| No. (%) Bulk bill | 12 (16) | 1 (11) | ||
| No. (%) Co-payment | 64 (84) | 8 (89) | ||
| GP factors at baseline | N GPs | N GPs | ||
| Number | 94 | 18 | ||
| Mean age (years) (SD) | 93 | 54 (10.3) | 8 | 55 (14.1) |
| No. (%) female | 93 | 33 (35) | 10 | 4 (40) |
| Mean number of years since graduated (SD) | 93 | 30 (10.2) | 8 | 31 (14.5) |
| No. (%) with special interest in low-back pain | 93 | 16 (17) | 8 | 0 (0) |
| No. (%) undertaken LBP continuing education in past year | 92 | 10 (11) | 8 | 1 (12) |
| Mean number of patients seen per week (SD) | 92 | 126 (55.4) | 8 | 129 (61.6) |
| Mean number of LBP patients seen per week (SD) (averaged over the previous month) [Median; IQR] | 90 | 12 (17.7) [8; 4 to 10] | 8 | 11 (5.4) [10; 9 to 12] |
| No. (%) who are members of local GP Division | 93 | 87 (93) | 8 | 7 (87) |
CRT = Cluster randomised trial; SD = standard deviation; GPs = general practitioners; IQR = Interquartile range [25th percentile - 75th percentile]