The American journal of orthopedics
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Attention to patient satisfaction is critical in today's health care environment-satisfaction surveys inform the development of hospital performance standards and can influence an institution's rankings and reimbursement. The effectiveness of postoperative pain management can affect clinical outcomes and also influence the patient's perception of the overall surgical experience. Ample clinical- trial data now exist that demonstrate the benefits of periarticular injections as part of a multimodal regimen in patients undergoing joint arthroplasty. ⋯ The US Food and Drug Administration has approved liposomal bupivacaine for injection into the surgical site to produce postsurgical analgesia. The safety and efficacy of liposomal bupivacaine has been demonstrated in clinical studies in multiple types of surgical procedure, including double-blind, randomized, controlled clinical trials that involved over 1300 patients. In a case-control study comparing clinical and economic parameters before and after the introduction of liposomal bupivacaine as a component of the multimodal perioperative pain regimen for total joint arthroplasty, liposomal bupivacaine provided improved overall pain scores, an increase in patients reporting a pain score of 0, increased patient satisfaction, decreased length of stay, and a decrease in overall costs.
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Case Reports
Tension Pneumothorax After Ultrasound-Guided Interscalene Block and Shoulder Arthroscopy.
Interscalene brachial plexus anesthesia is commonly used for outpatient arthroscopic shoulder procedures. Ultrasound guidance has helped to minimize the cardiac, neurologic, and pulmonary complications associated with this block. ⋯ We present a case of tension pneumothorax in a patient undergoing arthroscopic rotator cuff repair under both interscalene regional and general anesthesia. Surgeons and anesthesiologists must remain aware that ultrasound-guided interscalene blocks may be associated with pneumothorax and must initiate treatment expeditiously.
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In the current health care environment, it is more important than ever for orthopedic surgeons to strive for optimal efficiency and effectiveness. For maximum efficiency, patients can be preselected to limit patient types that commonly require a greater investment of the practice's time and resources. Structuring surgical practices for efficiency may involve rethinking the staffing model, anticipating problems that may occur with individual patients, and enhancing internal and external communications. ⋯ Among such advances are tranexamic acid, intravenous acetaminophen, and bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension (EXPAREL®, Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc). Intravenous acetaminophen and liposomal bupivacaine, in particular, can significantly improve efficiency by reducing the administration of opioid medication during the postoperative period, and thereby reducing opioid-related side effects. Liposomal bupivacaine has also been shown to shorten the hospital length of stay and, in many cases, eliminate the need for costly and inefficient nerve blocks.
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Analgesic gaps--periods of inadequate pain control--commonly compromise the management of pain after joint arthroplasty. Such gaps can and should be prevented. ⋯ Multimodal analgesia should take into consideration not only the mechanisms of the individual medications, but also their timing of onset and duration of effect. And to avoid continual reestablishment of the pain pathways, it is also important to administer the medications on a scheduled basis rather than as needed.
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Reduced hospital staffing on weekends is a hypothesized risk factor for adverse health outcomes--commonly referred to as the weekend effect. We conducted a study on the effect of weekend admission on short-term outcomes among US hip fracture patients. We selected Nationwide Inpatient Sample (1998-2010) patients with a principal diagnosis of femoral neck fracture and grouped them by day of admission (weekend or weekday). ⋯ Compared with patients admitted on weekdays, patients admitted on weekends had lower mortality (OR, 0.94; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.89-0.99) and shorter mean hospital stay (estimate, 3.74%; 95% CI, 3.40-4.08) but did not differ in risk of perioperative complications (OR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.98-1.02). Weekend admission did not predict death, perioperative complications, longer hospital stay, or other adverse short-term outcomes. Our study data do not support a weekend effect among hip fracture admissions in the United States.