Early Protected Weightbearing for Acute Ruptures of the Achilles Tendon: Do Commonly Used Orthoses Produce the Required Equinus?

Conservative "functional" management of acute Achilles tendon ruptures has become increasingly popular. Critical to this is the use of the walking orthosis, which positions the ankle in equinus to allow for early weightbearing. Our aim was to test whether 2 common orthoses achieved a satisfactory equinus position. A total of 11 sequentially treated Achilles tendon ruptures were assigned to either a fixed angle walking boot with wedges (FAWW) or an adjustable external equinus-corrected brace (EEB). The lateral radiographs of the cast immobilized tendons showed a mean tibiotalar angle (TTA) of 56° (range 54° to 57°) and a mean tibio-first metatarsal angle (1MTA) of 74° (range 62° to 85°). The FAWW resulted in a mean TTA of 28° (range 15° to 35°) and 1MTA of 37° (range 30° to 45°). The EEB resulted in a TTA of 48° (range 43° to 45°) and 1MTA of 54° (range 47° to 57°). Ankle equinus was significantly greater with the EEB than with the FAWW (p < .05) and similar to that with an equinus cast. The use of wedges produced an equinus appearance through the midfoot but not at the ankle. We express caution in the use of the FAWW because it is unlikely to achieve sufficient ankle equinus to shorten the Achilles tendon.

Chronic Achilles tendon rupture reconstructed using hamstring tendon autograft.

BACKGROUND: Chronic rupture of the Achilles tendon (delayed diagnosis of more than 4 weeks) can result in retraction of the tendon and inadequate healing. Direct repair may not be possible and augmentation methods are challenging when the defect exceeds 5-6 cm, especially if the distal stump is grossly tendinopathic. METHODS: We describe our method of Achilles tendon reconstruction with ipsilateral semitendinosis autograft and interference screw fixation in a patient with chronic rupture, a 9 cm defect and gross distal tendinopathy. RESULTS: Patient reported outcome measures consistently demonstrated improved health status at 12 months post surgery: MOXFQ-Index 38-25, EQ5D-5L 18-9, EQ VAS 70-90 and VISA-A 1-64. The patient was back to full daily function, could single leg heel raise and was gradually returning to sport. No complications or adverse events were recorded. CONCLUSION: Reconstruction of chronic tears of the Achilles tendon with large defects and gross tendinopathy using an ipsilateral semitendinosis autograft and interference screw fixation can achieve satisfactory improvements in patient reported outcomes up to 1 year post-surgery.

Integrated client care for frail older adults in the community: preliminary report on a system-wide approach.

The Toronto Central Community Care Access Centre is leading a collaborative local health integration network systemic change initiative to implement and evaluate a practical model of integrated care for older adults with complex needs. The approach is embedded in the community where older adults and their families live and is designed to first and foremost improve the quality of care while ultimately bending the cost curve. The model is leveraging and aligning existing system resources by bringing together sectors from across the health system to create ways of working that build capacity in the system to be more responsive to this population. Outcomes to date will be discussed and next steps described. The secondary goal was to understand the key elements of this integration that can be scaled locally and across the province.

The challenge of advancing quality in Canadian primary healthcare.

Understanding the issues in advancing quality in Canadian primary healthcare requires some comprehension of systems theory as it applies to healthcare, as well as an understanding of the context of Canadian primary healthcare, particularly the roles of family physicians. With that background, one is then prepared to appreciate the current challenge in advancing the quality agenda, where provider learning of the content and skills of quality improvement and leading change, models of community or regional governance, and infrastructure such as information technology and its necessary supports for interoperability with other healthcare systems, are all primitive. For primary care providers, driven in large part by their desire to improve the health of the individuals and populations they serve, "Framework for Advancing Improvement in Primary Care" is a welcome guide for direction in how to begin their quality journey. The framework provides the map with the destination (the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Triple Aim) and roads to get there (six characteristics of high-performing primary healthcare systems). Finally, our ability to improve the system builds from partnerships with our practice citizens - we need to move beyond the patient care construct.

Ontario family physician readiness to collaborate with community pharmacists on drug therapy management.

BACKGROUND: Empirical evidence suggests that pharmacist-physician collaboration can improve patients' clinical outcomes; however, such collaboration occurs relatively infrequently in the community setting. There has been little research on physicians' perspectives of such collaboration. OBJECTIVE: To ascertain Ontario family physician readiness to collaborate with community pharmacists on drug therapy management. METHODS: The survey instrument was based on the transtheoretical model of behavior change. It enquired about 3 physician behaviors that represented low-, mid-, and high-level collaboration with pharmacists. The survey was distributed by fax or mail to a random sample of 848 Ontario family physicians and general practitioners, stratified by practice location (urban/rural). RESULTS: The response rate was 36%. Most respondents reported conversing with community pharmacists about a patient's drug therapy management 5 or fewer times per week. Eighty-four percent reported that they regularly took community pharmacists' phone calls, whereas 78% reported that they sometimes sought pharmacists' recommendations regarding their patients' drug therapy. Twenty-eight percent reported that they sometimes referred their patients to community pharmacists for medication reviews, with 44% unaware of such a service. There were no differences in physician readiness to engage in any of the 3 collaborative behaviors in urban versus rural settings. More accurate patient medication lists were perceived as the main advantage (pro) of collaborating with community pharmacists and pharmacists' lack of patient information as the main disadvantage (con). Collectively, perceived pros of collaboration were positive predictors of physician readiness to collaborate on all 3 behaviors, whereas perceived cons were negative predictors for the low- and mid-level behaviors. Female physicians were more likely than males to seek pharmacists' recommendations, whereas more experienced physicians were more likely to refer patients to pharmacists for medication reviews. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, Ontario physicians were more engaged in the low- and mid-level collaboration with community pharmacists with respect to drug therapy management. The strongest predictor of physician readiness to collaborate was perceived advantages of collaboration.