An Innovative Assessment Framework for Remote Care in Orthopedics

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic Surgery
• Healthcare Management
• Environmental Sustainability

Background:

• Increasing surgical interventions due to an aging population necessitate sustainable practices in orthopedics.
• Remote care pathways offer a strategy for orthopedic surgeons to improve environmental sustainability.
• Advanced international hospital practices inspired the development of new assessment tools.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop assessment tools for remote care pathways in orthopedic surgery.
• To identify key areas and design indicators for evaluating the sustainability of these pathways.
• To validate a model for assessing sustainability in orthopedic remote care.

Main Methods:

• Identification of key components within orthopedic remote care pathways.
• Design of sustainability indicators with achievement levels (1-5) and importance ratings (1-5).
• Literature review of global best practices and practical validation in an orthopedic hospital setting.

Main Results:

• Four key areas identified: remote consultations, staff travel incentives, patient involvement, and minor surgical interventions.
• A global sustainability indicator was computed, with the explored situation achieving 61.42% fulfillment.
• The Eisenhower matrix highlighted "incentives for staff travel options" as the highest priority for improvement.

Conclusions:

• Implementing the developed system fosters continuous improvement in orthopedic remote care pathways.
• The system enhances environmental sustainability within healthcare facilities.
• This contributes to the broader goal of reducing climate change through medical practice optimization.