A new study published in The Journal of Arthroplasty examined outpatient total joint replacements and one-night inpatient joint replacements to compare the burden of care for surgeons.
The study authors analyzed 103 consecutive total joint replacement patients who underwent the procedures in April 2014. All patients were discharged either within five hours of surgery or the next morning.
Five things to know:
1. Over the month examined, patients required 253 touches, with an average of 2.5 touches per patient.
2. The surgical team made 160 outgoing phone calls to patients and accepted 93 incoming calls from the total joint patients.
3. On average, the calls with patients lasted 4.74 minutes and the entire group spent 19 hours and 35 minutes of telephone contact.
4. When the researchers included time spent by the specialized education team, the patients required 83.1 hours of clinical time, with the average time per patient being 48.4 minutes.
5. Study authors concluded, "Postoperative care after rapid-pathway TJA requires a significant burden of resources, shifted from the hospital to the surgeon. We found that both rapid pathway groups require similar work by the surgeon's team. This additional work should be considered by policymakers."