RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Health costs and efficiencies of patient-specific and single-use instrumentation in total knee arthroplasty: a randomised controlled trial
JF BMJ Open Quality
JO BMJ Open Qual
FD British Medical Journal Publishing Group
SP e000493
DO 10.1136/bmjoq-2018-000493
VO 8
IS 2
A1 Andre Attard
A1 Gwenllian Fflur Tawy
A1 Michiel Simons
A1 Philip Riches
A1 Philip Rowe
A1 Leela C Biant
YR 2019
UL http://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/8/2/e000493.abstract
AB Aim To investigate whether patient-specific instrumentation (PSI) and single-use instrumentation (SUI) improve operating room efficiency in terms of time and cost to the healthcare provider over conventional/reusable instrumentation (CVR) when performing total knee arthroplasty (TKA).Patients and methods Patients requiring TKA were randomised into one of four surgical groups: CVR, CVS (conventional/SUI), PSR (PSI/reusable) and PSS (PSI/SUI). All surgical procedures were video recorded to determine specific surgical time intervals. Other variables reported included the number of instrument trays used, missing equipment, direct instrument costs and the weight of the instruments the staff had to handle. Oxford Knee Score (OKS), estimated blood loss and lengths of hospital stay were also recorded as markers of patient experience.Results PSR was significantly quicker in all the recorded time intervals, used less trays, experienced less missing equipment and resulted in lower blood loss and shorter hospital stays. SUI reported significantly slower operating room times and resulted in higher blood loss, but SUI was 88% lighter and 20% cheaper on average when compared with their reusable counterparts. Despite the economic advantages of PSI and SUI, the patients who reported greatest improvements in OKS were those allocated to the CVR group, but no clinically meaningful difference in OKS was found at any time point.Conclusions PSI and SUI for TKA have the potential of reducing operating room times over conventional, reusable sets. This reduction will benefit theatre personnel ergonomically, while presenting the healthcare provider with potential cost-saving benefits in terms of reduced sterilisation costs and surgical times.