Informed patient consent is a legal prerequisite endorsed by
multiple regulatory institutions including the Royal College of
Surgeons and the General Medical Council. It is also recommended
that the provision of written information is available and may take
the form of a Patient Information Leaflet (PIL) with multiple PILs
available from leading orthopaedic institutions. PILs may empower
the patient, improve compliance, and improve the patient experience.
The national reading age in the United Kingdom is less than 12 years
and therefore PILs should be written at a readability level not
exceeding 12 years old. We aim to assess the readability of PILs
currently provided by United Kingdom orthopaedic institutions. The readability of PILs on 58 common conditions provided by seven
leading orthopaedic associations in January 2017, including the
British Orthopaedic Association, British Hip Society, and the British
Association of Spinal Surgeons, was assessed. All text in each PIL
was analyzed using readability scores including the Flesch–Kincaid Grade
Level (FKGL) and the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) test.Aims
Patients and Methods
The routine use of posterior hip dislocation precautions is typically utilized postoperatively following total hip arthroplasty via a posterior surgical approach. This has included use of an abduction pillow and limiting adduction, internal rotation and flexion more than 90 degrees for a minimum of 6 weeks postoperatively. This may slow the course of rehabilitation, increase the length of hospital stay and the total cost of the procedure, and add additional anxiety to the patient. We conducted this study to see if posterior hip precautions are necessary after total hip arthroplasty via a posterior approach when the hip meets certain intraoperative criteria for stability. All patients in our institute undergo routine hip stability testing during primary total hip arthroplasty via a posterior approach. Before October 2010, all of our primary total hip arthroplasty patients were placed on routine hip precautions. We stopped hip precautions in October 2010 for all the patients who were noted to meet hip stability criteria intraoperatively. We prospectively compared the consecutive patients who underwent this procedure without hip precautions with a retrospective control group of patients who had hip precautions.Introduction:
Methods and Materials:
