Evolving trauma and orthopedics training in the UK.

The ever-growing population of the UK has resulted in increasing demands on its healthcare service. Changes have been introduced in the UK medical training system to avoid loss of training time and make it more focused and productive. Modernizing medical careers (MMC) was introduced in 2005. This promised to reduce the training period for a safe trauma specialist, in trauma and orthopedics, to 10 years. At around the same time, the European Working Time Directive (EWTD) was introduced to reduce the working hours for junior doctors in training, to improve patient safety and also work-life balance of junior doctors. Introduction of the assessment tools from Orthopedic Competency assessment project (OCAP) will help tailor the training according to the needs of the trainee. The aim of this article is to review the changes in the UK orthopedic surgical training over the past two decades.

Relevance of World Health Organization surgical safety checklist to trauma and orthopaedic surgery.

Surgery like civil aviation is a risk-prone occupation. Civil Aviation has reported a death rate of less than 1 in a million exposures. On the other hand, surgery has a reported mortality rate of 100 per million surgeries. The National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) database in England reported 152,017 'incidents' occurred during 4.2 million surgeries in 2008. Trauma and orthopaedic surgery accounted for 32.4 percent of these 'incidents'. Wrong-site surgery occurred in a total of 133 patients, with an incidence of 31.6 per million surgeries. A system to implement and maintain safe surgical practice is mandatory to prevent these 'incidents'. The factors identified in the genesis of these incidents are errors in decision making, lack of communication, leadership and teamwork. These human errors can easily be prevented using a formal structured communication, like the checklists. In 2008, the WHO published a set of guidelines to ensure the safety of surgical patients. In 2009, the checklist was modified with an intention to reduce major surgical complications and was proved to be effective. Wrong level spinal surgery needs special emphasis. There may be an increasing role for checklists in Trauma and Orthopaedic surgical practice to improve its safety profile by being procedure-specific.

Eccentric calf muscle training in athletic patients with Achilles tendinopathy.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of eccentric strengthening exercises (ESE) in athletic patients with Achilles tendinopathy. METHODS: Forty-five athletic patients (29 men, average age 26 years +/- 12.8, range 18 - 42; 16 women, average age 28 years +/- 13.1, range 20 - 46; average height: 173 +/- 16.8, range 158 - 191; average weight 70.8 kg +/- 15.3, range 51.4 - 100.5) with a clinical diagnosis of unilateral tendinopathy of the main body of the Achilles tendon completed the VISA-A questionnaire at first attendance and at their subsequent visits. The patients underwent a graded progressive eccentric calf strengthening exercises programme for 12 weeks. RESULTS: The mean pre-management VISA-A scores of 36 (SD 23.8; 95% CI: 29 - 46) improved to 52 (SD 27.5; 95% CI: 41.3 - 59.8) at the latest follow up (p = 0.001). Twenty seven of the 45 patients responded to the eccentric exercises. Of the 18 patients who did not improve with eccentric exercises, 5 (mean age: 33 years) improved with two peritendinous aprotinin and local anaesthetic injections. 10 of the 18 patients (9 men, mean age 35 years; 1 woman aged 40 years) who did not improve with eccentric exercises and aprotinin injections proceeded to have surgery. The remaining three patients (3 women, mean age 59.6 years) of the 18 non-responders to eccentric exercises and aprotinin injections declined surgical intervention. CONCLUSIONS: ESE in athletic patients provide comparable clinical outcome compared to our previous results in non-athletic patients. ESE are a viable option for the management of AT in athletes, but, in our hands, only around 60% of our athletic patients benefited from an intensive, heavy load eccentric heel drop exercise regimen alone. If ESE fail to improve the symptoms, aprotinin and local anaesthetic injections should be considered. Surgery is indicated in recalcitrant cases after 3 to 6 months of non operative management.

Eccentric calf muscle training in non-athletic patients with Achilles tendinopathy.

OBJECTIVE: Achilles tendinopathy is prevalent in athletes, but can also affect sedentary patients. We studied the effects of eccentric exercises in sedentary non-athletic patients with Achilles tendinopathy. METHODS: Thirty-four sedentary patients (18 males, average age 44 years, range 23-67; 16 females, average age 51 years, range 20-76; average BMI: 28.6+/-4.7, range 22.1-35.4) with a clinical diagnosis of unilateral tendinopathy of the main body of the Achilles tendon completed the VISA-A questionnaire at first attendance (39+/-S.D. 22.8) and at their subsequent visits. The patients underwent a graded progressive eccentric calf strengthening exercises programme for 12 weeks. RESULTS: Fifteen patients (44%) did not improve with eccentric exercise regimen. Three patients improved after perintendinous injections aprotinin and local anaesthetic. Surgery was performed in seven patients as 6 months of conservative management failed to produce improvements. The overall average VISA-A scores at latest follow up was 50 (S.D. 26.5). CONCLUSIONS: Eccentric exercises, though effective in nearly 60% of our patients, may not benefit sedentary patients to the same extent reported in athletes.

Fracture strain and stability with additional locking screws in intramedullary nailing: a biomechanical study.

BACKGROUND: We studied the effect of additional locking screws on fracture strain and stability in tibial intramedullary nailing. METHODS: We drilled an additional diaphyseal locking hole into 8-mm solid tibial nails 185 mm from the proximal end of the nail, and locked it proximally and distally. An osteotomy was produced 4.5 cm distal to the additional hole, and the construct loaded axially, in flexion, extension, and torsion. The nails were also tested for their fatigue strength. RESULTS: With the additional locking screw, strain increased proximally during loading in neutral and flexion. Strain decreased on loading in extension. The extra locking screw decreased strain close to the osteotomy site in all loading positions. A significant reduction in angular motion at the osteotomy site occurred with the addition of the extra locking screw. The nails survived the fatigue test, although the stress increased around the additional locking hole CONCLUSIONS: Nails with additional locking options, by altering strain and motion at the fracture site, may have the clinical potential to affect fracture healing.