Abhishek Chaturvedi, Heather Russell, Matthew Farrugia, Mark Roger, Amit Putti, Paul J Jenkins, Stephen Feltbower
{"title":"临床肩胛骨骨折患者指导随访。","authors":"Abhishek Chaturvedi, Heather Russell, Matthew Farrugia, Mark Roger, Amit Putti, Paul J Jenkins, Stephen Feltbower","doi":"10.1302/2633-1462.52.BJO-2023-0119.R1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims: </strong>Occult (clinical) injuries represent 15% of all scaphoid fractures, posing significant challenges to the clinician. MRI has been suggested as the gold standard for diagnosis, but remains expensive, time-consuming, and is in high demand. Conventional management with immobilization and serial radiography typically results in multiple follow-up attendances to clinic, radiation exposure, and delays return to work. Suboptimal management can result in significant disability and, frequently, litigation.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We present a service evaluation report following the introduction of a quality-improvement themed, streamlined, clinical scaphoid pathway. Patients are offered a removable wrist splint with verbal and written instructions to remove it two weeks following injury, for self-assessment. The persistence of pain is the patient's guide to 'opt-in' and to self-refer for a follow-up appointment with a senior emergency physician. On confirmation of ongoing signs of clinical scaphoid injury, an urgent outpatient 'fast'-wrist protocol MRI scan is ordered, with instructions to maintain wrist immobilization. Patients with positive scan results are referred for specialist orthopaedic assessment via a virtual fracture clinic.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>From February 2018 to January 2019, there were 442 patients diagnosed as clinical scaphoid fractures. 122 patients (28%) self-referred back to the emergency department at two weeks. Following clinical review, 53 patients were discharged; MRI was booked for 69 patients (16%). Overall, six patients (< 2% of total; 10% of those scanned) had positive scans for a scaphoid fracture. There were no known missed fractures, long-term non-unions or malunions resulting from this pathway. Costs were saved by avoiding face-to-face clinical review and MRI scanning.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>A patient-focused opt-in approach is safe and effective to managing the suspected occult (clinical) scaphoid fracture.</p>","PeriodicalId":34103,"journal":{"name":"Bone & Joint Open","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10853021/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Patient-directed follow-up for the clinical scaphoid fracture.\",\"authors\":\"Abhishek Chaturvedi, Heather Russell, Matthew Farrugia, Mark Roger, Amit Putti, Paul J Jenkins, Stephen Feltbower\",\"doi\":\"10.1302/2633-1462.52.BJO-2023-0119.R1\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<p><strong>Aims: </strong>Occult (clinical) injuries represent 15% of all scaphoid fractures, posing significant challenges to the clinician. MRI has been suggested as the gold standard for diagnosis, but remains expensive, time-consuming, and is in high demand. Conventional management with immobilization and serial radiography typically results in multiple follow-up attendances to clinic, radiation exposure, and delays return to work. Suboptimal management can result in significant disability and, frequently, litigation.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We present a service evaluation report following the introduction of a quality-improvement themed, streamlined, clinical scaphoid pathway. Patients are offered a removable wrist splint with verbal and written instructions to remove it two weeks following injury, for self-assessment. The persistence of pain is the patient's guide to 'opt-in' and to self-refer for a follow-up appointment with a senior emergency physician. On confirmation of ongoing signs of clinical scaphoid injury, an urgent outpatient 'fast'-wrist protocol MRI scan is ordered, with instructions to maintain wrist immobilization. Patients with positive scan results are referred for specialist orthopaedic assessment via a virtual fracture clinic.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>From February 2018 to January 2019, there were 442 patients diagnosed as clinical scaphoid fractures. 122 patients (28%) self-referred back to the emergency department at two weeks. Following clinical review, 53 patients were discharged; MRI was booked for 69 patients (16%). Overall, six patients (< 2% of total; 10% of those scanned) had positive scans for a scaphoid fracture. There were no known missed fractures, long-term non-unions or malunions resulting from this pathway. Costs were saved by avoiding face-to-face clinical review and MRI scanning.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>A patient-focused opt-in approach is safe and effective to managing the suspected occult (clinical) scaphoid fracture.</p>\",\"PeriodicalId\":34103,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Bone & Joint Open\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":2.8000,\"publicationDate\":\"2024-02-09\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10853021/pdf/\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Bone & Joint Open\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1302/2633-1462.52.BJO-2023-0119.R1\",\"RegionNum\":0,\"RegionCategory\":null,\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"ORTHOPEDICS\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Bone & Joint Open","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1302/2633-1462.52.BJO-2023-0119.R1","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ORTHOPEDICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
Patient-directed follow-up for the clinical scaphoid fracture.
Aims: Occult (clinical) injuries represent 15% of all scaphoid fractures, posing significant challenges to the clinician. MRI has been suggested as the gold standard for diagnosis, but remains expensive, time-consuming, and is in high demand. Conventional management with immobilization and serial radiography typically results in multiple follow-up attendances to clinic, radiation exposure, and delays return to work. Suboptimal management can result in significant disability and, frequently, litigation.
Methods: We present a service evaluation report following the introduction of a quality-improvement themed, streamlined, clinical scaphoid pathway. Patients are offered a removable wrist splint with verbal and written instructions to remove it two weeks following injury, for self-assessment. The persistence of pain is the patient's guide to 'opt-in' and to self-refer for a follow-up appointment with a senior emergency physician. On confirmation of ongoing signs of clinical scaphoid injury, an urgent outpatient 'fast'-wrist protocol MRI scan is ordered, with instructions to maintain wrist immobilization. Patients with positive scan results are referred for specialist orthopaedic assessment via a virtual fracture clinic.
Results: From February 2018 to January 2019, there were 442 patients diagnosed as clinical scaphoid fractures. 122 patients (28%) self-referred back to the emergency department at two weeks. Following clinical review, 53 patients were discharged; MRI was booked for 69 patients (16%). Overall, six patients (< 2% of total; 10% of those scanned) had positive scans for a scaphoid fracture. There were no known missed fractures, long-term non-unions or malunions resulting from this pathway. Costs were saved by avoiding face-to-face clinical review and MRI scanning.
Conclusion: A patient-focused opt-in approach is safe and effective to managing the suspected occult (clinical) scaphoid fracture.