RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Determining the clinical effort associated with preparing for revision total hip and knee arthroplasty is necessary to maintain the appropriate work relative value unit rating. We have investigated the work done by the orthopedic surgical team in the days and weeks prior to revision hip and knee arthroplasty using a count of time by team members in the electronic medical record (EMR). METHODS: EMR audit logs were generated, and preoperative work (POW) was calculated for members of the surgical team for 200 sequential revision cases. Independent samples t-tests were conducted to compare total POW for procedure, age, gender, insurance, and health literacy; significance threshold was set at P = .05. RESULTS: POW was 97.7 minutes (standard deviation [SD] 53.1). Surgeon POW accounted for 10.5 minutes (SD 9.3), nurses for 29.9 minutes (SD 34.2), mid-level providers for 22.1 minutes (SD 17.0), and office technicians for 34.1 minutes (SD 35.2). There was no difference in total POW based on procedure (hip vs knee), age, gender, insurance type, or health literacy. CONCLUSION: Revision arthroplasty requires substantial preoperative preparation from the surgical team. Most of this is by nurses, mid-level providers, and office staff. This does not seem to be different for hip or knee revisions or by age and gender. EMR audit logs capture the bare minimum POW required to prepare a patient for revision arthroplasty.
Assuntos
Artroplastia de Quadril , Artroplastia do Joelho , Ortopedia , Cirurgiões , Artroplastia do Joelho/métodos , Humanos , Reoperação/métodosRESUMO
BACKGROUND: In order to achieve rapid recovery total joint arthroplasty, surgeons and their teams are spending more time in the weeks before surgery to prepare patients. This study aims to quantify total knee and hip prearthroplasty work using retrospective electronic medical record (EMR) activity audit log analysis. METHODS: EMR activity in 100 elective knee and 100 elective hip arthroplasty cases was performed using audit logs. Each mouse click and action in the EMR was recorded. The time between mouse clicks was calculated and summed for each member of the clinical team. Descriptive statistics and independent samples t-tests were conducted to quantify and compare total preoperative work (POW) between groups defined by gender, procedure, age, insurance type, or health literacy (P < .05). RESULTS: The mean number of days defined in the prearthroplasty time period was 69.1 days (standard deviation [SD] 42.8; range 8-191). The mean time spent in each patient's chart in the prearthroplasty period was 76.8 (SD 47.8) minutes. Surgeon's work in the medical record accounted for 7.9 (SD 7.9) minutes, registered nurses 46.7 minutes (SD 39.1), physician extenders 10.8 minutes (SD 16.9), and licensed practical nurses and patient care technicians 9.8 minutes (SD 13.0). A significant difference was observed when groups were dichotomized based on age <65 and insurance provider type. CONCLUSION: A considerable amount of POW is required to prepare patients for surgery from the clinic date one decides to pursue total joint arthroplasty and the day prior to surgery. Retrospective electronic time stamps from the EMR should represent the minimum time required for surgical preparation.