Hip resurfacing arthroplasty: A new method to assess and quantify learning phase

Hip resurfacing had initially gained acceptance and popularity as it helps preserve femoral bone stock. In this study we tried to answer the following questions; 1. Whether there is a learning curve for hip resurfacing? 2. Is it present in surgeons from non-developer centres? 3. Is it present in surgeons from developer centres as well? The Oswestry outcome centre was setup to serve an independent international registry for collecting, analysing and reporting outcomes following hip resurfacing. Over a 10 year period, 4535 patients (5000 hips) were recruited from different countries and within the UK from different centres in this study by 139 surgeons from 37 different countries. Our study has shown that function can be used to assess the level of surgical competence. The results from this multilevel analysis have helped to answer the questions posed in the introduction. Hip resurfacing is a surgical procedure with a learning phase and this learning effect is more pronounced in non-developer surgeons as compared to developer surgeons. Hip scores can be used to assess proficiency and competence of surgeons undertaking hip resurfacing arthroplasty.