de Ruiter, Stijn (2022) Size does matter! Screw waste in orthopedic trauma surgery: a prospective observational study. thesis, Medicine.
Full text available on request.Abstract
The cost of healthcare worldwide is increasing at an unsustainable rate. To decrease or even reverse this trend, we must decrease the cost of care without adversely affecting quality. Orthopedic implant waste is a contributing factor to the increasing costs of healthcare. Implants that are wasted the most are screws. The purpose of this study is to get a better understanding of screw waste in orthopedic trauma surgery as this may contribute to unnecessary healthcare costs worldwide. In this observational study, we analyzed patients who underwent plate/screw osteosynthesis procedures and mapped out the overall screw waste that occurred. Reasons for screw waste were recorded and its financial cost burden was calculated. Overall screw waste in plate osteosynthesis in orthopedic trauma surgery was found to be fairly high. In up to 26% of the procedures, one or more screws are wasted. It turns out that in almost all of these cases surgeons have trouble measuring the length of the needed screws. As a consequence, the total financial cost burden over a four-month period turned out to be €2039,09. This study emphasizes the fact that there is huge potential for waste reduction in the context of orthopedic trauma surgery. As we found a high incidence of screw waste with inaccurate screw length measurement during surgery as its main reason, tools that can help surgeons to more accurately estimate the right screw length would be highly beneficial.
| Item Type: | Thesis (UNSPECIFIED) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Zijlstra, W.P. and de Hartog, B. |
| Faculty: | Medical Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 03 Jul 2023 11:19 |
| Last Modified: | 03 Jul 2023 11:19 |
| URI: | https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3568 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |