Occupational Therapy Pre-Operative Intervention for Total Hip Replacement Patients; A Qualitative Enquiry

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic Surgery
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Accelerated care pathways in orthopedic surgery necessitate efficient patient management.
• Occupational therapy's role in total hip replacement (THR) recovery requires further exploration.
• Understanding therapist experiences is vital for service improvement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore occupational therapists' experiences with total hip replacement patients.
• To identify key factors influencing pre- and post-operative occupational therapy interventions.
• To evaluate the impact of occupational therapy on patient discharge timeliness.

Main Methods:

• Semi-structured interviews with eight occupational therapists in a UK NHS orthopedic hospital.
• Focus on therapists working with total hip replacement patients.
• Reflexive thematic analysis of transcribed interview data.

Main Results:

• Six key themes emerged regarding pre-operative intervention, timely discharge, patient education, prediction challenges, post-operative needs, and therapist experience.
• Pre-operative occupational therapy is identified as essential for efficient patient discharge.
• Therapist experience correlates with confidence in pre-operative patient management.

Conclusions:

• Comprehensive pre-operative occupational therapy facilitates rapid discharge for total hip replacement patients.
• Optimizing pre-operative services can reduce the demand for post-operative interventions.
• Occupational therapy is integral to managing patients within accelerated orthopedic care models.