Using KomPas+ in the Treatment of Patients With Intermittent Claudication

Intermittent claudication is the most common symptom of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). The recommended therapy is supervised exercise therapy combined with lifestyle counselling, provided by a physiotherapist. Ideally, during the treatment process patients' values and preferences are incorporated with evidence-based knowledge; shared decision making (SDM). Evidence shows the use of SDM in daily practice is scarce. Therefore, personalized outcome forecasts which provide insight into an individual's personal prognosis (called KomPas) were implemented in 2020. Now, as a next step, KomPas is further developed into a guideline-based clinical decision support system. The result is called KomPas+, a tool which integrates the person-centered approach of KomPas with the guideline recommendations for the conservative treatment of people with intermittent claudication.The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of implementing KomPas+ in the physiotherapeutic treatment of patients with intermittent claudication on functional walking distance and health-related quality of life. Secondary, the level of SDM and person-centeredness of physiotherapists using KomPas or KomPas+ will be assessed. Third, the implementation process will be evaluated.