Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Sep 5;1(2):e10168.
doi: 10.2196/10168.

Postoperative Home Monitoring After Joint Replacement: Feasibility Study

Homer Yang  1 , Geoff Dervin  2 , Susan Madden  3 , Paul E Beaulé  2 , Sylvain Gagné  4 , Mary L Crossan  5 , Ashraf Fayad  4 , Kathryn Wheeler  4 , Melody Afagh  4 , Tinghua Zhang  6 , Monica Taljaard  6   7
Affiliations

Postoperative Home Monitoring After Joint Replacement: Feasibility Study

Homer Yang et al. JMIR Perioper Med. .

Abstract

Background: We conducted a prospective observational study of patients undergoing elective primary hip or knee replacements to examine the feasibility of a postoperative home monitoring system as transitional care to support patients following their surgery in real time.

Objective: The primary outcome was the mean percentage of successful wireless transmissions from home of blood pressure levels, heart rate, oxygen saturation levels, and pain scores until postoperative day 4 with a feasibility target of ≥90%.

Methods: Patients with an expected length of stay ≤1 day, age 18-80 years, Revised Cardiac Risk Index ≤ class 2, and caretakers willing to assist at home were eligible. Patient satisfaction, as a secondary outcome, was also evaluated. Wireless monitoring equipment (remote patient monitoring, Telus Canada) was obtained and a multidisciplinary care team was formed.

Results: We conducted the study after obtaining Research Ethics Board approval; 54 patients completed the study: 21 males, 33 females. In total, we evaluated 9 hips, 4 hip resurfacing, 26 total knees, and 15 hemi-knees. The mean transmission rate was 96.4% (SD 5.9%; 95% CI 94.8-98.0). The median response to "I would recommend the Remote Monitoring System program to future patients" was 4.5 (interquartile range 4-5), with 1 being "strongly disagree" and 5 "strongly agree." At 30 days postop, there was no mortality or readmission.

Conclusions: This is an evolving new paradigm for postoperative care and the first feasibility study on monitoring biometrics after primary hip or knee replacement. Postoperative home monitoring combines current technology with real-time support by a multidisciplinary transitional care team after discharge, facilitating postsurgical care with successful wireless transmission of vitals. The postoperative home monitoring implementation is, therefore, generalizable to other surgical discharges from hospitals.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02143232; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02143232 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/71ugAhhIk).

Keywords: mobile phone; patient confidentiality during wireless monitoring; postoperative home monitoring; postoperative transitional care; postoperative wireless monitoring; surgical length of stay.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Recruitment diagram for postoperative home monitoring (POHM) part 1. OSA: obstructive sleep apnea.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Frequency of phone calls during the 4 days of monitoring, part 1.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Canadian Institute of Health Information. 2013. Hip and Knee Replacements in Canada: Canadian Joint Replacement Registry 2013 Annual Report https://secure.cihi.ca/free_products/CJRR_2013_Annual_Report_EN.pdf .
    1. Canadian Institute for Health Information. 2014. [2018-02-18]. Hip and Knee Replacements in Canada: Canadian Joint Replacement Registry 2014 Annual Report https://secure.cihi.ca/free_products/CJRR%202014%20Annual%20Report_EN-we... .
    1. Canadian Institute of Health Information. 2013. [2018-02-18]. Wait Times for Priority Procedures in Canada, 2013 https://secure.cihi.ca/free_products/wait_times_2013_en.pdf .
    1. Canadian Institute of Health Information Canadian Institute for Health Information. 2012. [2018-02-18]. All-Cause Readmission to Acute Care and Return to the Emergency Department https://secure.cihi.ca/free_products/Readmission_to_acutecare_en.pdf .
    1. Vorhies JS, Wang Y, Herndon JH, Maloney WJ, Huddleston JI. Decreased length of stay after TKA is not associated with increased readmission rates in a national Medicare sample. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2012 Jan;470(1):166–71. doi: 10.1007/s11999-011-1957-0. http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/21720934 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Associated data