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Developing a Pathway for High-value, Patient-centered Total Joint Arthroplasty

Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research®

A CORR Insights to this article was published on 19 December 2013

Abstract

Background

Total joint arthroplasty (TJA) is one of the most widely performed elective procedures; however, there are wide variations in cost and quality among facilities where the procedure is performed.

Questions/purposes

The purposes of this study were to (1) develop a generalizable clinical care pathway for primary TJA using inputs from clinical, academic, and patient stakeholders; and (2) identify system- and patient-level processes to provide safe, effective, efficient, and patient-centered care for patients undergoing TJA.

Methods

We used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to design a care pathway that spans 14 months beginning with the presurgical office visit and concluding 12 months after discharge. We derived care suggestions from interviews with 16 hospitals selected based on readmission rates, cost, and quality (n = 10) and author opinion (n = 6). A 32-member multistakeholder panel refined the pathway during a 1-day workshop. Participants were selected based on leadership in orthopaedic (n = 4) and anesthesia (n = 1) specialty societies; involvement in organizations specializing in safety and high reliability care (n = 3), lean production/consumption of care (n = 3), and patient experience of care (n = 3); membership in an interdisciplinary care team of a hospital selected for interviewing (n = 8); recent receipt of a TJA (n = 1); and participation in the pathway development team (n = 9).

Results

The care pathway includes 40 suggested processes to improve care, 37 techniques to reduce waste, and 55 techniques to improve communication. Central themes include standardization and process improvement, interdisciplinary communication and collaboration, and patient/family engagement and education. Selected recommendations include standardizing care protocols and staff roles; aligning information flow with patient and process flow; identifying a role accountable for care delivery and communication; managing patient expectations; and stratifying patients into the most appropriate care level.

Conclusions

We developed a multidisciplinary clinical care pathway for patients undergoing TJA based on principles of high-value care. The pathway is ready for clinical testing and context-specific adaptation.

Level of Evidence

Level V, therapeutic study. See the Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Julia Rowe Taylor for assistance with project oversight; Jane Roessner and Val Weber for editorial assistance; Vanessa Chan for help with manuscript preparation; members of the 16 interdisciplinary care teams and two patients for their participation in semistructured interviews; and the 32 members of our multistakeholder panel for their work to refine and improve the care pathway. We also acknowledge that this work arose from efforts by the Dartmouth population health team and individuals at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (ECN, KMK) to incorporate the Institute of Medicine’s quality aims into their care pathway development efforts. Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s GreenCare approach uses a similar conceptual framework, process flow diagrams to illustrate roles and tasks over the entire episode, integration of tasks into team roles and into the electronic medical record, and use of patient-reported outcomes. The current project offered the opportunity to adopt and extend Dartmouth’s approach to pathway development and to engage a diverse cross section of clinicians and health systems in developing a potentially generalizable care pathway.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kevin J. Bozic MD, MBA.

Additional information

The institution of the authors (ADVC, DAG, ECN, BO, FAF) has received funding from Premier Healthcare Alliance, Inc, Washington, DC, USA, through a research partnership with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

All ICMJE Conflict of Interest Forms for authors and Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research editors and board members are on file with the publication and can be viewed on request.

The primary work for this project was performed at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement main office (Cambridge, MA, USA) and in Washington DC, Hanover, NH, and Lebanon, NH, USA.

Appendix 1. Suggestions (n = 132) included in the care pathway

Appendix 1. Suggestions (n = 132) included in the care pathway

Table 4 Processes that apply across the continuum of care (n = 17)
Table 5 Period 1: preoperative surgical office visit (24 suggestions)
Table 6 Period 2: preoperative preparation and planning (22 suggestions)
Table 7 Period 3a: inpatient experience: preparation, operation, and postanesthesia care unit (PACU) (22 suggestions)
Table 8 Period 3b: inpatient experience: inpatient stay and discharge process (27 suggestions)
Table 9 Period 4: postdischarge rehabilitation and followup care (20 suggestions)

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Van Citters, A.D., Fahlman, C., Goldmann, D.A. et al. Developing a Pathway for High-value, Patient-centered Total Joint Arthroplasty. Clin Orthop Relat Res 472, 1619–1635 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-013-3398-4

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