scholarly journals Implant wastage in orthopaedic trauma: a UK experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 102 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-228
Author(s):  
N Jayakumar ◽  
S Munuswamy ◽  
R Kulshreshtha ◽  
S Deshmukh

Introduction Implant wastage is an under-reported issue in orthopaedics, yet it has been shown to have a significant cost burden on healthcare budgets. In a background of a perilous financial climate in the UK health service, our aim was to define the frequency and costs of implant wastage in orthopaedic trauma. Materials and methods The trauma theatre’s implant logbook was retrospectively analysed between April 2017 and April 2018. Wasted implants were identified by the study authors independently. Patient demographics, implant details and costs were among the data collected. Product codes of wasted implants were used to identify implant costs through the manufacturer. Results Implant wastage occurred in 25.1% of trauma procedures during the study period. Most wasted implants (91%) were screws. The total cost of implant wastage was £8,377.25 during the 12-month period, accounting for 2% of the total implant budget. Wasted intramedullary nails accounted for almost 50% of the total cost. More than 51% of affected procedures involved a trainee as the primary operator. Discussion We report the first study of implant wastage in orthopaedics from the UK. Total implant wastage was higher than reported in most of the published literature, although it represented a small portion of the budget. Implant wastage is attributable to surgeons or operating theatre staff in most cases and is compounded by surgeons’ limited understanding of implant costs. Initiatives to reduce implant wastage should include raising awareness of costs and departmental wastage to surgeons and operating theatre staff as well as employing preoperative planning techniques.

2021 ◽  
pp. flgastro-2020-101713
Author(s):  
Mathuri Sivakumar ◽  
Akash Gandhi ◽  
Eathar Shakweh ◽  
Yu Meng Li ◽  
Niloufar Safinia ◽  
...  

ObjectivePrimary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is a progressive, autoimmune, cholestatic liver disease affecting approximately 15 000 individuals in the UK. Updated guidelines for the management of PBC were published by The European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) in 2017. We report on the first national, pilot audit that assesses the quality of care and adherence to guidelines.DesignData were collected from 11 National Health Service hospitals in England, Wales and Scotland between 2017 and 2020. Data on patient demographics, ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) dosing and key guideline recommendations were captured from medical records. Results from each hospital were evaluated for target achievement and underwent χ2 analysis for variation in performance between trusts.Results790 patients’ medical records were reviewed. The data demonstrated that the majority of hospitals did not meet all of the recommended EASL standards. Standards with the lowest likelihood of being met were identified as optimal UDCA dosing, assessment of bone density and assessment of clinical symptoms (pruritus and fatigue). Significant variations in meeting these three standards were observed across UK, in addition to assessment of biochemical response to UDCA (all p<0.0001) and assessment of transplant eligibility in high-risk patients (p=0.0297).ConclusionOur findings identify a broad-based deficiency in ‘real-world’ PBC care, suggesting the need for an intervention to improve guideline adherence, ultimately improving patient outcomes. We developed the PBC Review tool and recommend its incorporation into clinical practice. As the first audit of its kind, it will be used to inform a future wide-scale reaudit.


2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
L E Murchison ◽  
R Anbarasan ◽  
A Mathur ◽  
M Kulkarni

Abstract Introduction In the already high-risk, high-stress environment of the operating theatre, operating during Covid-19 has brought its own unique challenges. Communication, teamwork and anxiety related new operating practices secondary to Covid-19 are hypothesised to have a negative impact on patient care. Method We conducted a single-centre online survey of operating theatre staff from 22nd June–6th July 2020. Respondents completed 18 human factors questions related to COVID-19 precautions including communication, teamwork, situational awareness, decision making, stress, fatigue, work environment and organisational culture. Questions consisted of yes/no responses, multiple choice and Likert items. Kruskall-Wallis tests, Chi-Squared, Mann Whitney U tests, Spearman’s correlation coefficient, lambda and Cramer’s V tests were used. Free-text responses were also reviewed. Results 116 theatre staff responded. Visual (90.5%), hearing/ understanding (96.6%) difficulties, feeling faint/lightheaded (66.4%) and stress (47.8%) were reported. Decreased situational awareness was reported by 71.5% and correlated with visors (r = 0.27 and p = 0.03) and FFP2/3 mask usage (r = 0.29 and p = 0.01). Reduced efficiency of theatre teams was reported by 75% of respondents and 21.5% felt patient safety was at greater risk due to Covid-19 precautions in theatre. Conclusions Organisational adjustments are required, and research focused on development of fit-for-purpose personal protective equipment (PPE).


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 188-193
Author(s):  
Liam Wilson ◽  
Omer Farooq

Operating theatres are dynamic environments that require multi professional team interactions. Effective team working is essential for efficient delivery of safe patient care. A fire in the operating theatre is a rare but potentially life threatening event for both patients and staff. A rapid and cohesive response from theatre and allied staff including porters, fire safety officer etc is paramount. We delivered a training session that utilised in situ simulation (simulation in workplace). After conducting needs analysis, learning objectives were agreed. After thorough planning, the date and location of the training session were identified. Contingency plans were put in place to ensure that patient care was not compromised at any point. To ensure success, checklists for faculty were devised and adhered to. A medium fidelity manikin with live monitoring was used. The first part of the scenario involved management of a surgical emergency by theatre staff. The second part involved management of a fire in the operating theatre while an emergency procedure was being undertaken. To achieve maximum learning potential, debriefing was provided immediately after each part of the scenario. A fire safety officer was present as a content expert. Latent errors (hidden errors in the workplace, staff knowledge etc) were identified. Malfunctioning of theatre floor windows and staff unawareness about the location of an evacuation site were some of the identified latent errors. Thorough feedback to address these issues was provided to the participants on the day. A detailed report of the training session was given to the relevant departments. This resulted in the equipment faults being rectified. The training session was a very positive experience and helped not only in improving participants’ knowledge, behaviour and confidence but also it made system and environment better equipped.


1997 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-290
Author(s):  
P. C. A. Kam ◽  
J. F. Thompson

2008 ◽  
Vol 90 (9) ◽  
pp. 306-307
Author(s):  
K Woo

Surgeons, anaesthetists and theatre staff have always worked to ensure that no harm comes to their patients, particularly within the operating theatre environment. Patient safety and the prevention of adverse events underlie many of our traditional practices such as the use of identity bracelets, consent forms and marking of the operative site. Perhaps even more so today than ever, unnecessary or avoidable mistakes in the operating theatre cannot be afforded, with the current climate of increasing standards of health care and rising expectations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 190-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Chui ◽  
Amit Thakrar ◽  
Shivakumar Shankar

Aims Hip fracture patients are at higher risk of severe COVID-19 illness, and admission into hospital puts them at further risk. We implemented a two-site orthopaedic trauma service, with ‘COVID’ and ‘COVID-free’ hubs, to deliver urgent and infection-controlled trauma care for hip fracture patients, while increasing bed capacity for medical patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A vacated private elective surgical centre was repurposed to facilitate a two-site, ‘COVID’ and ‘COVID-free’, hip fracture service. Patients were screened for COVID-19 infection and either kept at our ‘COVID’ site or transferred to our ‘COVID-free’ site. We collected data for 30 days on patient demographics, Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), Nottingham Hip Fracture Scores (NHFS), time to surgery, COVID-19 status, mortality, and length of stay (LOS). Results In all, 47 hip fracture patients presented to our service: 12 were admitted to the ‘COVID’ site and 35 to the ‘COVID-free’ site. The ‘COVID’ site cohort were older (mean 86.8 vs 78.5 years, p = 0.0427) and with poorer CFS (p = 0.0147) and NHFS (p = 0.0023) scores. At the ‘COVID-free’ site, mean time to surgery was less (29.8 vs 52.8 hours, p = 0.0146), and mean LOS seemed shorter (8.7 vs 12.6 days, p = 0.0592). No patients tested positive for COVID-19 infection while at the ‘COVID-free’ site. We redirected 74% of our admissions from the base ‘COVID’ site and created 304 inpatient days’ capacity for medical COVID patients. Conclusion Acquisition of unused elective orthopaedic capacity from the private sector facilitated a two-site trauma service. Patients were treated expeditiously, while successfully achieving strict infection control. We achieved significant gains in medical bed capacity in response to the COVID-19 demand. The authors propose the repurposing of unused elective operating facilities for a two-site ‘COVID’ and ‘COVID-free’ model as a safe and effective way of managing hip fracture patients during the pandemic. Cite this article: Bone Joint Open 2020;1-6:190–197.


Author(s):  
J. E. Marsden

Abstract Aims: The aim of this work is to report on the tumour control probability (TCP) of a UK cohort of lung stereotactic ablative radiotherapy patients (n = 198) for a range of dose and fractionations common in the UK. Materials and methods: TCP values for 3 (54 Gy), 5 (55 and 60 Gy) and 8 (50 Gy) fraction (#) schemes were calculated with the linear-quadratic Marsden TCP model using the Biosuite software. Results: TCP values of 100% were computed for the 3 # and for 5 # (α/β = 10 Gy) cohorts; reduced to 99% (range 97–100) for the 5 # cohort only when an α/β of 20 Gy was used. The average TCP value for the 50 Gy in 8 # regime was 97% (range 92–99, α/β = 10 Gy) and 64% (range 48–79, α/β = 20 Gy). Statistical significant differences were observed between the α/β of 10 Gy versus 20 Gy groups and between all data grouped by fraction. Conclusion: TCPs achievable with current planning techniques in the UK have been presented. The ultra-conservative 50 Gy in 8 # scheme returns a significantly lower TCP than the other regimes.


2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franklin I. Duruiheoma ◽  
Cynthia Burek ◽  
Graham Bonwick ◽  
Roy Alexander

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (9) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Chrysothemis Paraskevopoulou ◽  
Georgios Boutsis

Tunnelling projects seldom meet the initial budget requirements. Commonly, these types of projects suffer from cost overruns, which subsequently lead to project delivery delays mainly due to unsuccessful ground investigation as specified in the literature. The presented work scrutinises the effect of ground investigation in cost overruns. More specifically, various cost figures (total cost, construction cost, tunnel cost) are analysed for two case studies i) the Channel tunnel in the UK and ii) the Olmos Tunnel in Peru. Clayton’s relation between ground investigation and the construction cost is utilised and further investigated. In the Channel tunnel, the main problems faced led to a cost overrun of 78% for the total cost, 66% for the construction cost and 77% for the tunnelling cost. In the Olmos tunnel, two main geological scenarios are analysed and the construction cost overrun is calculated at 9.6% and 6.7%. Drawing on the conclusions, this research work proves that ground investigation can be one of the major factors influencing the tunnel cost.


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