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Continuity of care for orthopaedic patients in a district general hospital.

ABSTRACT: Continuity of care has been defined as a patient repeatedly consulting the same doctor and forming a therapeutic relationship. There is evidence that not only do patients value continuity of the care they receive but also that provider continuity is related to lower overall total healthcare costs and better healthcare outcomes. A retrospective audit was undertaken in James Paget Hospital, a district general hospital in East Anglia, England, to assess continuity of care from the preoperative clinic to surgery and subsequent postoperative follow-up in the orthopaedic department. Overall continuity of care by individual surgeon was 23% and by orthopaedic team (consultant and middle grade staff) 43% in the first audit cycle of 106 patients in 2008. In the second cycle in 2010, this improved to 24% and 56%, respectively, in a sample of 156 patients. Moreover, the continuity of care for trauma patients improved from 10% to 75%. Interventions which resulted in the improvement were change of on-call rota and the implementation of measures so that, following surgery, patients were allocated to the operating surgeon's clinic postoperatively. This completed audit cycle highlights the importance of continuity of care of patients and how efficient management led to a more patient centred delivery of healthcare.

SUBMITTER: Kulloo P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4645909 | biostudies-other | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Continuity of care for orthopaedic patients in a district general hospital.

Kulloo Praneta P

BMJ quality improvement reports 20140304 1

Continuity of care has been defined as a patient repeatedly consulting the same doctor and forming a therapeutic relationship. There is evidence that not only do patients value continuity of the care they receive but also that provider continuity is related to lower overall total healthcare costs and better healthcare outcomes. A retrospective audit was undertaken in James Paget Hospital, a district general hospital in East Anglia, England, to assess continuity of care from the preoperative clin ...[more]

PMID: 26734297

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Project description:BackgroundStudies from countries such as Australia and South Africa have demonstrated a difference in the types of injury managed in rural hospitals compared to larger, urban hospitals and so conclude staff require a different skill-set to work in these environments. There is some evidence this attitude may be prevalent amongst UK surgical trainees, resulting in difficulty recruiting to rural settings. In addition, studies have compared mortality in paediatric trauma patients in rural and urban hospitals, but none have described types of injury or orthopaedic operations required.We hypothesise the distribution of operative, orthopaedic paediatric trauma in a rural district general and an urban major trauma centre will not differ significantly in terms of patterns and mechanism of injury, orthopaedic intervention or time to theatre.Materials/methodsAll operative paediatric patients (0-15yrs) seen during an acute orthopaedic take at a rural district general and an urban major trauma centre were included. Non-operative admissions were excluded. Patients were identified using daily trauma work lists from each site. Outcomes were age, injury type, operation, time to theatre, seasonality and mechanism.Results183 patients from the urban hospital and 103 from the rural were identified. There were no significant differences found in age of patient, seasonality or time to theatre between cohorts (p > 0.05). There were also broadly similar patterns of injury and operations performed in both groups, although k-wiring was more often employed in the rural cohort than the urban (27% vs 17% of total operations). There were more bicycle and shinty related injuries in the rural cohort, and equine related in the urban.ConclusionsPaediatric trauma admissions do not vary significantly between rural and urban trauma centres, although the types of procedure performed may be less conservative in a rural hospital. This may be due to geography or differences in ED practice.

Project description:INTRODUCTION:The COVID -19 outbreak has had a profound effect on the management of healthcare service provision in the UK. Orthopaedic departments have been no exception to this and have needed to adapt to the changing circumstances by releasing resources and focusing on 'essential' activity. The aim of this study is to quantify the reduction in trauma and, in addition, describe any changes in the type of referrals to the trust which may have been affected by the pandemic itself and the social distancing measures employed by the UK government. METHODS:The study was performed in a UK District Hospital which is also a Trauma Unit providing trauma and orthopaedic care to a population of 625,000 people. The trust based electronic database of trauma referrals was used to compare the numbers of, and types of referral to our trauma service during the COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding time periods in the previous 3 years. RESULTS:The mean number of referrals per week to the service reduced by 33% in the time period following the confirmation of the outbreak as a pandemic (p<0.0001). Number of operations performed per week reduced by 26% (p = 0.001). There was no change in the number of referrals relating to domestic abuse or non-accidental injury. In addition, numbers of hip fractures, periprosthetic fractures and prosthetic joint dislocations were unchanged. There was a significant reduction in the number of referrals for simple fractures, native joint dislocations, wounds and soft tissue injuries. Within the paediatric population, similarly, a reduction in simple fracture referrals was demonstrated. DISCUSSION:An association between the outbreak of the pandemic and a reduction in referral numbers to our department has been demonstrated. The direct cause of this may be multifactorial but proposing that it is, in part, due to the social distancing measures introduced by the government is certainly conceivable. The patterns of injury would reflect this also with low energy and fragility trauma persisting whilst injuries associated with younger people have reduced. We would suggest that information such as this could be useful in healthcare planning and resource allocation in future pandemic situations.

Project description:Breast cancer patients are often at high risk of fragility fractures partly due to adjuvant endocrine therapy such as aromatase inhibitors and chemotherapy. Baseline dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scanning is recommended as a standard of care in identifying patients who are at risk so they can be commenced on bone protective therapy. NICE guideline 80 - "Early and locally advanced breast cancer"[1] states that patients with early invasive breast cancer should have a baseline DEXA scan to assess BMD before the commencement of aromatase inhibitor treatment; if patients have treatment-induced menopause or are starting ovarian ablation/suppression therapy. We have audited the performance of a DGH against these guidelines with a target of 100% concordance. During a one year period (April 2012-April 2013), 100 patients with a new diagnosis of breast cancer were selected at random from the hospital coding database. 100 patients were chosen as this was a convenient sample size. We gathered information for these patients using electronic records, letters, and imaging. This showed a poor compliance of 38% against NICE guidelines. This in turn means that patients with low BMD at diagnosis of breast cancer are being under diagnosed and under treated, resulting in increased potential morbidity associated with fragility fractures. The interventions that resulted from this audit were: dissemination of these results to surgical and oncology departments, posters summarising the guidelines put up in breast clinics, and breast MDTs to discuss the need for DEXA scans for patients with breast cancer. A re-audit was performed for patients diagnosed with early, invasive breast cancer in January 2014 where a compliance of 90% was achieved. This represents a huge improvement in compliance from the baseline measure of 38%. In order to show that this improvement could be sustained, two further cycles were performed in February and March 2014, where the compliance was 92% and 100% respectively. Therefore the improvement in compliance was not only maintained but in fact the compliance increased even further during subsequent cycles. Hence we have achieved a large improvement in the quality of assessment of bone quality in breast cancer patients. Moreover, we have demonstrated the importance of the dissemination of information and education within a multidisciplinary setting.

Project description:BackgroundThe desire of patients for personal continuity of care with a General Practitioner (GP) has been well documented, but not within non-registered private patients in Ireland. This study set out to examine the attitudes and reported behaviours of private fee-paying patients towards continuity of GP care and universal registration for patients.MethodsCross-sectional telephone survey of 400 randomly chosen fee-paying patients living within County Dublin. There is no formal system of registration with a GP for these patients. Main outcomes were attendance of respondents at primary health care facilities and their attitudes towards continuity of care and registration with a GP. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and using parametric and non-parametric tests of association. Pearson correlation was used to quantify the association between the described variables and attitudes towards continuity and registration with a GP. Variables showing significance at the 5% level were entered into multiple linear regression models.Results97% of respondents had seen a GP in the previous 5 years. The mean number of visits to the GP for respondents was 2.3 per annum. 89% of respondents had a regular GP and the mean length of time with their GP was 15.6 years. 96% preferred their personal medical care to be provided within one general practice. 16% of respondents had consulted a GP outside of their own practice in the previous year. They were more likely to be female, commute a longer distance to work or have poorer health status. 81% considered it important to be officially registered with a GP practice of their choice.ConclusionBoth personal and longitudinal continuity of care with a GP are important to private patients. Respondents who chose to visit GPs other than their regular GP were not easily characterised in this study and individual circumstances may lead to this behaviour. There is strong support for a system of universal patient registration within general practice.

Project description:BackgroundEnsuring effective clinical management and continuity of TB care across hospital and primary health-care services remains challenging in South Africa. The high burden of TB, coupled with numerous health system problems, influence the TB care delivered by hospital staff.ObjectiveTo understand factors from the perspectives of hospital staff that influence the clinical management and discharge of TB patients, and to elicit recommendations to improve continuity of care for TB patients.DesignParticipatory action research was used to engage hospital staff working with TB patients admitted to a central public hospital in the Western Cape province, South Africa. Data were collected through eight focus group discussions with nurses, junior doctors and ward administrators. Data analysis was done using Miles and Huberman's framework to identify emerging patterns and to develop categories with themes and sub-themes. The participants influenced all phases of the research process to inform better practices in TB clinical management and discharge planning at the hospital.ResultsThe emerging themes and sub-themes were categorized into two overall sections: The clinical care management process and the discharge and referral process. Nurses expressed a fear of exposure to TB and MDR-TB due to challenges in clinical and infection-prevention control. Clinical hierarchies, poor interdisciplinary teamwork, limited task shifting and poor communication interfered with effective clinical and discharge processes. A high workload, staff shortages and inadequate skills resulted in insufficient information and health education for TB patients and their caregivers. Despite awareness of the patients' socio-economic challenges, some aspects of care were not patient-centered, and caregivers were not included in discharge planning. Communication between the hospital and referral points was inefficient and poorly supported by information systems. Hospital staff recommended improved infection prevention and control practices and interdisciplinary teamwork in the hospital, that TB education for patients be integrated with hospital staff functions, with more patient-centered discharge planning, and improved communication across hospitals and primary health care levels.ConclusionsInterdisciplinary teamwork, more patient-centered care, and better communication within the hospital and with primary health-care services are needed for improved continuity of care for TB patients. Further studies on factors contributing to, and interventions to improve, continuity of TB care in similar hospital settings are needed.

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Continuity of care for orthopaedic patients in a district general hospital.

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Continuity of care for orthopaedic patients in a district general hospital.

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