The COGS community-based glaucoma screening programme is a safe and effective way of evaluating glaucoma referrals in the community and reducing false-positive referrals for glaucoma into the hospital system.
Background
Total hip and knee arthroplasties are increasingly performed operations, and routine follow-up places huge demands on orthopedic services. This study investigates the effectiveness, patients’ satisfaction, and cost reduction of Virtual Joint Replacement Clinic (VJRC) follow-up of total hip arthroplasty and total knee arthroplasty patients in a university hospital. VJRC is especially valuable when in-person appointments are not advised or feasible such as during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods
A total of 1749 patients who were invited for VJRC follow-up for knee or hip arthroplasty from January 2017 to December 2018 were included in this retrospective study. Patients were referred to VJRC after their 6-week postoperative review. Routine VJRC postoperative review was undertaken at 1 and 7 years and then 3-yearly thereafter. We evaluated the VJRC patient response rate, acceptability, and outcome. Patient satisfaction was measured in a subgroup of patients using a satisfaction survey. VJRC costs were calculated compared to face-to-face follow-up.
Results
The VJRC had a 92.05% overall response rate. Only 7.22% required further in-person appointments with only 3% being reviewed by an orthopedic consultant. VJRC resulted in an estimated saving of £42,644 per year at our institution. The patients’ satisfaction survey showed that 89.29% of the patients were either satisfied or very satisfied with VJRC follow-up.
Conclusion
VJRC follow-up for hip and knee arthroplasty patients is an effective alternative to in-person clinic assessment which is accepted by patients, has high patient satisfaction, and can reduce the cost to both health services and patients.
The rectus femoris muscle is the most frequently involved quadriceps muscle in strain pathologies. The majority of quadriceps muscle belly injuries can be successfully treated conservatively and even significant tears in the less active and older population, non-operative management is a reasonable option. The authors report the delayed presentation of a 17-year-old male who sustained an injury to his rectus femoris muscle belly while playing football. This young patient did not recover the functional outcome required to get back to running and participating in sport despite 15 months of physiotherapy and non-operative management. Operative treatment using the ligament augmentation and reconstruction system ligament to augment Kessler repair allowed immediate full passive flexion of the knee and an early graduated physiotherapy programme. Our patient was able to return to running and his previous level of sport without any restrictions.
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