Patient-centred medicine is an approach to medical care that emphasises the patient experience. Treatment outcome measures reflect this experience, and outcomes are measured by obtaining patient feedback. Central to this type of care is the patient-physician relationship. Communication, physician empathy, and shared decision making are key components of this relationship. Patient-centred care is correlated with better patient outcomes across medical specialties and higher patient perceived quality of care. Payors are now using patient-centred quality measures in their physician reimbursement schedules.
Modern athletes are constantly susceptible to performance-threatening injury as they push their bodies to greater limits and endure higher physical stresses. Loss of performance and training time can adversely and permanently affect a sportsperson’s career. Now more than ever with advancing medical technology the answer may lie in biologic therapy. We have been using peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) clinically and have been able to demonstrate that stem cells differentiate into target cells to enable regenerative repair. The potential of this technique as a regenerative agent can be seen in three broad applications: 1) articular cartilage, 2) bone and 3) soft tissue. This article highlights the successful cases, among many, in all three of these applications.
The need to demonstrate probity and fair market competition has increased scrutiny of the relationships between orthopaedic surgeons and the industry that supplies them with their tools and devices. Investigations and judgements from the US Department of Justice and the introduction of the AdvaMed and Eucomed codes have defined new boundaries for interactions between these groups. This article summarises the current interplay between orthopaedic surgeons and industry, and provides recommendations for the future.
