Tips of the trade #10. Timesaving instruments for removing the distal interlock of a Brooker-Wills femoral intramedullary rod.

Removing the distal fixation wings (interlock) of a Brooker-Wills femoral intramedullary rod can be a time-consuming and difficult procedure. If the granulation tissue in the proximal aspect of the intramedullary rod is hypertrophic and scarred in, the screw-in extractor device used for removal of the distal fixation wings is sometimes difficult to engage. We always have two instruments available in the operating room to aid in the removal of the distal fixation wings: a large- or medium-sized arthroscopic alligator clamp grabber and head-lamp or flashlight. We believe that these significantly help reduce the time necessary to remove the granulation tissue and allow better visualization of the screw-in site on the distal fixation wing device for placement of extractor, thus ensuring a shorter procedure.

The SPOCC (Selective Procedures, Operative Cases, and Consults) program as an advance in orthopaedic resident record keeping.

This paper outlines the development and use of a software package developed at the University of New Mexico that allows residents to use a simple menu driven program for record keeping. Selective Procedures, Operative Cases, and Consults (SPOCC) was developed for recording data in individually arranged formats and searching on a number of input parameters. As Residency Review Committees become more stringent in their demand for documentation of activities, this program will give residents the ability to quickly recall any number of selective procedures, consults or operative cases, along with case specific data to enable them to review cases, study results in relation to future follow-up, generate statistics, and stimulate research ideas. SPOCC can be run on any dual floppy or hard disk personal computer that uses MS-DOS or PC-DOS 2.0 or greater. It requires 256 kilobytes of free memory, and a color or monochrome monitor. A printer is optional.

Computer corner #19. The computer as an aid to the orthopaedic resident for record-keeping.

This paper delineates a simple method of assisting orthopaedic residents in computer-based record-keeping. A step-by-step example is used to show the ease with which this system can be employed and modified to fit individual needs. Record-keeping is important to verify case load to individual departments and to the Residency Review Committee. It also allows the use of the records for case reviews and research, as well as making the resident more computer-literate.