A Prospective Evaluation of Postoperative Readmissions After Outpatient Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery.

Introduction Hand and upper extremity surgeries are largely performed in free-standing ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Rates of unexpected hospitalizations or visits to the urgent care or emergency departments in the month following hand and upper extremity surgery have been widely varied in the literature. We prospectively followed patients after hand and upper extremity outpatient surgery to determine the rate of unplanned health care utilization with the hypothesis that hospital admissions, emergency room visits, and urgent care center visits would be higher than the rates currently reported by retrospective studies.

The Effect of Preoperative Opioid Education on Opioid Consumption After Outpatient Orthopedic Surgery: A Prospective Randomized Trial.

Pain management and opioid consumption following outpatient orthopedic surgery may be influenced by several variables, including knowledge of safe opioid use. A prospective randomized study was undertaken to understand the effect of preoperative opioid education on opioid consumption following outpatient orthopedic surgeries. A total of 237 patients undergoing outpatient orthopedic surgeries were prospectively randomized to receive preoperative opioid education or not.

Complications of Volar Plating of Distal Radius Fractures: A Systematic Review.

 In recent years, there has been an increased utilization of volar locking plate fixation of distal radius fractures (DRFs). However, reported long-term complication rates with this technique remain unclear.  The purpose of this systematic review was to investigate the pooled incidence of complications associated with volar locking plating of DRF.

Sterility of Ethyl Chloride Spray After Use in the Clinic.

Ethyl chloride spray is used frequently in the outpatient setting as a local anesthetic for injections and aspirations with varying consensus about the sterility of the spray. We hypothesize that ethyl chloride spray remains sterile and would show no bacterial growth during routine clinical use. Thirteen ethyl chloride bottles were collected for testing.

A Prospective Evaluation of Adverse Reactions to Single-Dose Intravenous Antibiotic Prophylaxis During Outpatient Hand Surgery.

While it is established that routine prophylactic antibiotics are not needed for all hand surgery, some cases do require it. The purpose of this study was to determine the rate of adverse reactions resulting from prophylactic antibiotic administration on patients undergoing outpatient hand and upper extremity surgical procedures. We hypothesize that the rate of complications resulting from the use of antibiotic prophylaxis is smaller than that reported in the currently referenced literature.

Midterm Outcome of the Agility Total Ankle Arthroplasty.

Background: Ankle arthritis is a debilitating condition that causes severe functional impairment. While arthrodesis has been the gold standard of surgical treatment for this condition, significant improvements in total ankle arthroplasty have made it a viable alternative. The purpose of this study was to look at the midterm follow-up of the Agility total ankle.

The Epidemiology of Fifth Metatarsal Fracture.

Background: A paucity of data exists studying the epidemiology of fifth metatarsal fractures. While a number of studies exist focusing on specific fracture patterns and patient populations, a large comprehensive epidemiologic study on the general public does not.

Objective: We reviewed 1275 fifth metatarsal fractures treated at a multicenter orthopaedic practice attempting to classify mechanism of injury and patient demographics as they pertain to specific fracture patterns.