In the Primary Joint Unit although our rate of survival following knee replacements 10 years post operation is excellent (97.8%); our patient satisfaction is not as good with 1 patient in 20 feeling that the operation has not helped. In May 2015 BART held a 2-day meeting to discuss ways of improving early outcomes following knee replacements.
Since then we have been working with the School of Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast on pre-operative psychosocial questionnaires to see if they can predict how well a patient will do following a knee replacement. This biopsychosocial study will be made on 164 patients who have had knee replacements at Musgrave Park Hospital. We currently have 61 patients who have agreed to participate.
It is hoped that the results help us in the future to be able to intervene with those patients who we think will have problems following their operation and therefore improve their outcome.