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. 2025 Feb;50(2):169-177.
doi: 10.1177/17531934241268976. Epub 2024 Aug 21.

The impact on time between injury and semi-acute surgery for hand fractures after virtual fracture clinic implementation

Dorien A Salentijn  1   2 , Gijs J A Willinge  2 , Marcel G W Dijkgraaf  1   3 , Ruben N van Veen  2
Affiliations

The impact on time between injury and semi-acute surgery for hand fractures after virtual fracture clinic implementation

Dorien A Salentijn et al. J Hand Surg Eur Vol. 2025 Feb.

Abstract

The aim of this before-and-after study was to evaluate the implementation of a virtual fracture clinic (VFC) on the time between injury and surgery in patients presenting with a phalangeal or metacarpal fracture and in need of semi-acute surgical treatment. Between 1 January and 30 September 2018 (pre-VFC) and in the same period in 2022 (VFC), 101 and 113 patients were included, respectively. Before VCF implementation, the time between injury and surgery was 8.9 days (95% confidence interval [CI]: 8.1 to 9.6), while after VCF implementation it was 7.6 days (95% CI: 7.0 to 8.3). In 2018, 7% of operations were unacceptably delayed beyond 14 days from injury, which was reduced to 5% in 2022, despite patient-presentation delays of up to 10 days. VFC implementation was associated with a reduction in time until semi-acute surgery for phalangeal or metacarpal fractures and improved the quality of semi-acute surgery planning.Level of evidence: Level III.

Keywords: Hand fractures; metacarpal fractures; operative treatment; phalangeal fractures; virtual fracture clinic.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow diagram.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Cumulative probability by virtual fracture clinic-cohort of having received semi-acute surgery after day of injury with phalangeal or metacarpal fracture.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Cumulative probability for children by virtual fracture clinic-cohort of having received semi-acute surgery after day of injury with phalangeal or metacarpal fracture.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Cumulative probability for adults by virtual fracture clinic-cohort of having received semi-acute surgery after day of injury with phalangeal or metacarpal fracture.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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