Continuous improvement process: ortho-geriatric co-management of proximal femoral fractures

Pathway to Excellence: One Institution's Experience Obtaining the Joint Commission's Advanced Total Hip and Total Knee Replacement Certification

As the prevalence of total hip and total knee arthroplasty procedures increase over the next decades, hospitals seek opportunities to improve quality outcomes while simultaneously limiting costs and mitigating risks of complications. The Joint Commission's Advanced Total Hip and Total Knee Replacement (THKR) certification is one of the highest quality standard certification programs in the nation and is the only one that collaborates with the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. To obtain THKR certification, several requirements based on evidence-based clinical practice guidelines must be met. The process is described from initial identification of stakeholders to ongoing efforts to retain certification. Joint Commission THKR certification was awarded after rigorous review and on-site visit. Compliance with advanced care standards from the time of orthopedic consultation through postsurgical follow-up was reviewed. Joint Commission THKR certification provides supporting evidence of the institutions journey in processes toward delivering high quality clinical care. A multidisciplinary team with ongoing collaboration is necessary to obtain and retain certification.

Is the QCI framework suited for monitoring outcomes and costs in a teaching hospital using value-based healthcare principles? A retrospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES

The objective is to develop a pragmatic framework, based on value-based healthcare principles, to monitor health outcomes per unit costs on an institutional level. Subsequently, we investigated the association between health outcomes and healthcare utilisation costs.

DESIGN

This is a retrospective cohort study.

SETTING

A teaching hospital in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

PARTICIPANTS

The study was performed in two use cases. The bariatric population contained 856 patients of which 639 were diagnosed with morbid obesity body mass index (BMI) <45 and 217 were diagnosed with morbid obesity BMI ≥45. The breast cancer population contained 663 patients of which 455 received a lumpectomy and 208 a mastectomy.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES

The quality cost indicator (QCI) was the primary measures and was defined asQCI = (resulting outcome * 100)/average total costs (per thousand Euros)where average total costs entail all healthcare utilisation costs with regard to the treatment of the primary diagnosis and follow-up care. Resulting outcome is the number of patients achieving textbook outcome (passing all health outcome indicators) divided by the total number of patients included in the care path.

RESULTS

The breast cancer and bariatric population had the highest resulting outcome values in 2020 Q4, 0.93 and 0.73, respectively. The average total costs of the bariatric population remained stable (avg, €8833.55, min €8494.32, max €9164.26). The breast cancer population showed higher variance in costs (avg, €12 735.31 min €12 188.83, max €13 695.58). QCI values of both populations showed similar variance (0.3 and 0.8). Failing health outcome indicators was significantly related to higher hospital-based costs of care in both populations (p <0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

The QCI framework is effective for monitoring changes in average total costs and relevant health outcomes on an institutional level. Health outcomes are associated with hospital-based costs of care.

Implementing a Hospitalist Comanagement Service in Orthopaedic Surgery

➤ Hospitalist comanagement of patients undergoing orthopaedic surgery is a growing trend across the United States, yet its implementation in an academic tertiary care hospital can be complex and even contentious.➤ Hospitalist comanagement services lead to better identification of at-risk patients, optimization of patient care to prevent adverse events, and streamlining of the admission process, thereby enhancing the overall service efficiency.➤ A successful hospitalist comanagement service includes the identification of service stakeholders and leaders; frequent consensus meetings; a well-defined standardized framework, with goals, program metrics, and unified commands; and an occasional satisfaction assessment to update and improve the program.➤ In this article, we establish a step-by-step protocol for the implementation of a comanagement structure between orthopaedic and hospitalist services at a tertiary care center, outlining specific protocols and workflows for patient care and transfer procedures among various departments, particularly in emergency and postoperative situations.

Application of the PDCA cycle for implementing the WHO Safe Childbirth Checklist in women with vaginal deliveries

The World Health Organization Safe Childbirth Checklist (SCC) has been recommended globally. However, the results are inconsistent. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of implementing the SCC based on plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle management. From November 2019 to October 2020, women who were hospitalized and had vaginal deliveries were enrolled in this study. Before October 2020, the PDCA cycle was not applied for the SCC, and women who had vaginal deliveries were included in the pre-intervention group. From January 2021 to December 2021, the PDCA cycle was applied for the SCC, and women who had vaginal deliveries were included in the post-intervention group. The SCC utilization rate and the incidence of maternal and neonatal complications were compared between the 2 groups. The SCC utilization rate in the post-intervention group was higher than that in the pre-intervention group (P < .01). The postpartum infection rate in the post-intervention group was lower than that in the pre-intervention group, and the difference was statistically significant (P < .05). After the intervention, postpartum hemorrhage, neonatal mortality, and neonatal asphyxia rates were also reduced, although no significant differences were observed between the 2 groups. There was no significant difference in the third-degree perineal laceration or neonatal intensive care unit hospitalization rate between the 2 groups (P > .05). Application of the PDCA cycle can improve the SCC utilization rate, and the SCC combined with the PDCA cycle can effectively reduce the postpartum infection rate.

[Result of the update of the clinical pathway for hip fracture in the elderly at a university hospital in Madrid]

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Orthogeriatric management with clinical pathways (CP) in hip fracture (HF) has been shown to be superior to other models. We studied whether updating the CP, through prioritization of admission and surgery, improvement in the prevention and treatment of delirium, management of anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents and the use of perioperative peripheral nerve block, modifies surgical delay, stay, readmissions, mortality, suffering delirium and functional status at discharge.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

A retrospective observational study of unicenter cohorts of 468 patients with HF, 220 from 2016 (old VC) and 248 from 2019 (new VC). The variables are: intervention in the first 48hours, surgical delay (hours), stay (days), stay less than 15 days, delirium, functional loss at discharge (Barthel prefracture scale less Barthel scale at discharge), readmission at one month, and mortality at admission, month and year.

RESULTS

Median age: 87.0 [interquartile range 8.0], mostly women (76.7%). Significantly, with the new VC, there was a greater number of patients operated on in the first 48hours (27,7% vs 36,8% p=0.036), less surgical delay (72.5 [47,5-110,5] vs 64.0 [42,0-88,0] p<0.001), shorter stay (10,0 [7,0-13,0] vs 8,0 [6,0-11,0] p<0.001), greater number of discharges in 15 days (78,2% vs 91,5% p<0.001), lower delirium (54,1% vs 43,5% p=0.023). No significant changes in readmissions, functional loss at discharge, mortality at admission, 3 months or year.

CONCLUSIONS

Updating the VC brings benefits to the patient (less surgical delay, equal functional status at discharge with fewer days of admission) and benefits in management (lower admission) without modifying mortality.

The effect of postoperative weight-bearing status on mortality rate following proximal femoral fractures surgery

INTRODUCTION

Proximal femur fractures are associated with an increased mortality rate in the elderly. Early weight-bearing presents as a modifiable factor that may reduce negative postoperative outcomes and complications. As such, we aimed to compare non-weight-bearing, partial-weight-bearing and full weight-bearing cohorts, in terms of risk factors and postoperative outcomes and complications.

METHODS

We retrospectively reviewed our database to identify the three cohorts based on the postoperative weight-bearing status the day of surgery from 2003 to 20014. We collected data on numerous risk factors, including age, cerebrovascular accident (CVA), pulmonary embolism (PE), surgical fixation method and diagnosis type. We also collected data on postoperative outcomes, including the number of days of hospitalization, pain levels, and mortality rate. We performed a univariate and multivariate analysis; P < 0.05 was the significant threshold.

RESULTS

There were 186 patients in the non-weight-bearing group, 127 patients in the partial-weight-bearing group and 1791 patients in the full weight-bearing group. We found a significant difference in the type of diagnosis between cohorts (P < 0.001 in univariate, P < 0.001 in multivariate), but not in fixation type (P < 0.001 in univariate, but P = 0.76 in multivariate). The full weight-bearing group was diagnosed most with pertrochanteric fracture, 48.0%, and used Richard's nailing predominantly. Finally, we found that age was not a significant determinant of mortality rate but only weight-bearing cohort (P = 0.13 vs. P < 0.001, respectively).

CONCLUSION

We recommend early weight-bearing, which may act to decrease the mortality rate compared to non-weight-bearing and partial weight-bearing. In addition, appropriate expectations and standardizations should be set since age and type of diagnosis act as significant predictors of weight-bearing status.

Evaluation of Whether Emergency Physicians Should Join the Multidisciplinary Team for Older Hip Fracture Patients

Background

Geriatric hip fracture is one of the most common end-stage events in older patients with osteoporosis. We aimed to improve the original co-management process by engaging emergency physicians in the preoperative multidisciplinary management team (MDT). We evaluated this intervention in terms of reducing patient waiting time before surgery.

Methods

Emergency Department data and hospitalization data for patients diagnosed with geriatric hip fractures in Beijing Jishuitan Hospital (JSTH) were collected and sorted into the intervention group, for whom the MDT included emergency physicians (from January 2019 to December 2019), and the control group (from January 2017 to December 2017). The percentage of patients treated with surgery within 48 h of admission was used as the primary outcome. The secondary outcomes included the time from emergency visit to admission (hours), the time from admission to discharge (days), the percentage of patients receiving surgical treatment after admission, the rate of perioperative medical complications during hospitalization, postoperative admission to the Intensive Care Unit, and total deaths during hospitalization.

Results

A total of 2,152 patients were enrolled. The rate of hypertension (58.5% vs 52.1%), coronary heart disease (24.6% vs 19.9%), and cerebrovascular disease (19.4% vs 15.5%) was higher in the intervention group than in the control group. The percentage of patients receiving surgical treatment in the intervention group (98.3%) was significantly higher than in the control group (96.3%, p = 0.004). The proportion of patients receiving surgical treatment within 48 h of admission was significantly higher in the intervention group (82.4%) than in the control group (60.4%, p < 0.001). The hospital stay was significantly shorter in the intervention group compared with the control group (p < 0.001). The incidence of perioperative medical complications and mortality during hospitalization was similar in the two groups.

Conclusions

Involving emergency physicians in the MDT can reduce the waiting time before surgery and the hospital stay for older hip fracture patients.