title: Educational needs of health professionals working in rheumatology in Europe.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the availability of postgraduate education for health professionals (HPs) working in rheumatology in Europe, and their perceived educational needs and barriers for participation in current educational offerings.
  
  
  METHODS
  Structured interviews were conducted with national representatives of rheumatology HPs' organisations and an online survey among individual HPs was disseminated through existing European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) networks (10 languages including English). These comprised questions on: availability of postgraduate education, familiarity with EULAR and its educational offerings, unmet needs regarding the contents and mode of delivery and potential barriers to participate in education (0-10 scales).
  
  
  RESULTS
  According to 17 national representatives, postgraduate rheumatology education was most common for nurses, physical and occupational therapists. There were 1041 individuals responding to the survey, of whom 48% completed all questions. More than half (56%) were familiar with EULAR as an organisation, whereas <25% had attended the EULAR congress or were familiar with EULAR online courses. Educational needs regarding contents were highest for 'inflammatory arthritis' and 'connective tissue diseases' and regarding modes of delivery for 'courses organised in own country' and 'online courses'. Important barriers to participation included lack of 'resources', 'time' and 'English language skills'. Overall, there was considerable variation in needs and barriers among countries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a lack of postgraduate rheumatology education for HPs in most countries. There are opportunities to raise awareness regarding EULAR educational offerings and to develop courses provided in HPs' own country, tailored to national needs and barriers and taking language barriers into consideration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy , Leiden University Medical Center , Leiden , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Theodora P M
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Vliet Vlieland
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology , Sint Maartenskliniek , Nijmegen , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Cornelia H M
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: van den Ende
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation , Siege Assistance Publique , Paris , France.
authors.forename: Francoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Alliot-Launois
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology , Saint Antoine Hospital, Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris , Paris , France.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Beauvais
authors.affiliation: Positivamente Psicólogos , Madrid , Spain.
authors.forename: Milena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gobbo
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Unit , Sapienza Università di Roma , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Annamaria
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iagnocco
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Unit, Department of Medicine , Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, Karolinska Institutet , Stockholm , Sweden.
authors.forename: Ingrid E
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Lundberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Podiatry , University of Seville , Seville , Spain.
authors.forename: Pedro V
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Munuera-Martínez
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Physiotherapy, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden; Rheumatology Unit, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Christina H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Opava
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Sciences Research, University of Salford, Greater Manchester, UK; East Cheshire NHS Trust, Leighton Hospital, UK.
authors.forename: Yeliz
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Prior
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Biomechanics and Physical Medicine, Leeds Institute of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine, Leeds, UK; Leeds NIHR Biomedical Research Unit, Leeds, UK.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Redmond
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation , Institute of Rheumatology , Prague , Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Hana
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Smucrova
authors.affiliation: Deutsche Rheuma-Liga Bundesverband , Bonn , Germany.
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wiek
keywords: Health services research; Multidisciplinary team-care; Nursing; Occupational therapy