Differences in Early Recovery following Unicompartmental Knee Replacement with Daycase and Standard Care Pathways, assessed using the Oxford Arthroplasty Early Recovery Score (OARS)

Description

In this presentation, Azmi Rahman, a DPhil student at Oxford, discusses his study on early patient recovery following unicompartmental knee replacement, aiming to compare newer daycase pathways with standard care pathways. He begins by acknowledging contributors to the study and outlines the significance of evaluating recovery using the Oxford Arthroplasty Early Recovery Score (OARS). The study, conducted in two UK hospitals, involved a small cohort where daycase patients were split into those leaving on the same day and those requiring longer stays. The research highlights the resource benefits of a daycase approach while noting the limited prior patient-reported data.



Azmi explains the study methodology, involving the OARS questionnaire to assess recovery across various domains and at multiple time points post-surgery. The results reveal that patients in the daycase pathway experience improved recovery profiles, with outpatient scores notably higher on day one compared to standard pathways. However, by six weeks, both approaches showed similar recovery outcomes. Importantly, the findings advocate for the viability of daycase pathways in unicompartmental knee replacements, suggesting that a majority can be treated as outpatients, which can effectively reduce hospital stays without compromising patient recovery.

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