Immigrant patients in brief meetings with anaesthetist nurses - experiences from perioperative meetings in the orthopaedic setting

Aim To explore the experience of anaesthetist nurses in brief meetings with immigrant patients in the perioperative setting. Methods The study was conducted through open individualised interviews using open-ended questions. Eighteen anaesthetist nurses (six men and twelve women) participated in the interviews. Their age varied between 35 and 65 and they had worked as anaesthetist nurses for a period between six and twenty eight years. The text was analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results Meetings with immigrant patients made nurses with less experience to prepare more, to study behaviour of these patients and to ask their older colleagues for advice. More experienced nurses acted on the basis of their previous experience and treated the patients in the same way as before. They also emphasised the great responsibility and wider scope of assistance needed by these patients than those born in Sweden. The majority of nurses begin the meetings with these patients by requesting an interpreter, while some nurses begin the meeting directly with the patient and, if they see it is not going well, they request an interpreter. Conclusion Nurses need better guidelines and education in how to deal with the legislation relating to immigrant patients in order to handle the situation more effectively. Training in cross-cultural care should be improved to help nurses deal with stress through co-operation with the Migration Board and others. In order to provide for good communication and patient safety professional interpreters should be used

‘I was young, I wanted to return to sport, and re-ruptured my ACL’ – young active female patients’ voices on the experience of sustaining an ACL re-rupture, a qualitative study

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No Effect of Return to Sport Test Batteries with and without Psychological PROs on the Risk of a Second ACL Injury: A Critical Assessment of Four Different Test Batteries

# Background Patients report psychological barriers as important when returning to sport, however, psychological outcome measures are seldom included in return to sport (RTS) assessment. There is a need for clinical trials to integrate psychological patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in return to sport batteries assessing patients treated with ACL reconstruction. # Objective The aim of this study was to determine the association between passing clinical tests of muscle function and psychological PROs and sustaining a second ACL injury in patients who RTS after primary ACL reconstruction. # Design Retrospective Cohort study # Methods Patients' sex, age, height and weight, and the results of strength and hop tests, as well as answers to PRO's (including Tegner activity scale, the ACL Return to Sport after Injury scale (ACL-RSI) as well as the Quality of Life (QoL) subscale of the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score $$KOOS$$), were extracted from a rehabilitation-specific registry. Four different test batteries comprising muscle function tests and PROs were created to assess whether patients were ready to RTS. Passing each of the test batteries (yes/no) was used as an independent variable. A multivariable Cox proportional hazard model analysis was performed, with sustaining a second ACL injury (either ipsi- or contralateral; yes/no) within two years of RTS as the dependent variable. # Results A total of 419 patients (male, n=214; 51%) were included, of which 51 (12.2%) suffered a second ACL injury within the first two years after RTS. There were no differences in passing rates in the different RTS test batteries comprising muscle function tests and PROs for patients who suffered a second ACL injury compared to patients who did not. # Conclusion No association between passing the RTS clinical tests batteries comprising muscle function and psychological PROs used, and the risk of a second ACL injury could be found. # Level of Evidence 3 ©The Author(s

Accelerated evidence synthesis in orthopaedics—the roles of natural language processing, expert annotation and large language models

peer reviewedIn an era of electronical medical records, rapidly expanding publication rates of medical knowledge, and large-scale registries, orthopaedics is in a dire need of innovative approaches to facilitate the adoption of the latest knowledge in clinical practice. While machine learning (ML) has been heralded as one solution to many research tasks hampered by previous technological limitations [12], there is an increasing need to direct our attention towards subdomains of ML that are convenient for the extraction of meaningful clinical information stored in medical records. We believe natural language processing (NLP) to be one such domain of ML, with an immense future potential to catalyse rate-limiting steps in orthopaedic research

A practical guide to the implementation of AI in orthopaedic research - part 1: opportunities in clinical application and overcoming existing challenges.

peer reviewedArtificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform medical research by improving disease diagnosis, clinical decision-making, and outcome prediction. Despite the rapid adoption of AI and machine learning (ML) in other domains and industry, deployment in medical research and clinical practice poses several challenges due to the inherent characteristics and barriers of the healthcare sector. Therefore, researchers aiming to perform AI-intensive studies require a fundamental understanding of the key concepts, biases, and clinical safety concerns associated with the use of AI. Through the analysis of large, multimodal datasets, AI has the potential to revolutionize orthopaedic research, with new insights regarding the optimal diagnosis and management of patients affected musculoskeletal injury and disease. The article is the first in a series introducing fundamental concepts and best practices to guide healthcare professionals and researcher interested in performing AI-intensive orthopaedic research studies. The vast potential of AI in orthopaedics is illustrated through examples involving disease- or injury-specific outcome prediction, medical image analysis, clinical decision support systems and digital twin technology. Furthermore, it is essential to address the role of human involvement in training unbiased, generalizable AI models, their explainability in high-risk clinical settings and the implementation of expert oversight and clinical safety measures for failure. In conclusion, the opportunities and challenges of AI in medicine are presented to ensure the safe and ethical deployment of AI models for orthopaedic research and clinical application. Level of evidence IV

Clinical outcomes after anterior cruciate ligament injury: panther symposium ACL injury clinical outcomes consensus group

© 2020, The Author(s). Purpose: A stringent outcome assessment is a key aspect for establishing evidence-based clinical guidelines for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury treatment. The aim of this consensus statement was to establish what data should be reported when conducting an ACL outcome study, what specific outcome measurements should be used and at what follow-up time those outcomes should be assessed. Methods: To establish a standardized approach to assessment of clinical outcome after ACL treatment, a consensus meeting including a multidisciplinary group of ACL experts was held at the ACL Consensus Meeting Panther Symposium, Pittsburgh, PA; USA, in June 2019. The group reached consensus on nine statements by using a modified Delphi method. Results: In general, outcomes after ACL treatment can be divided into four robust categories—early adverse events, patient-reported outcomes, ACL graft failure/recurrent ligament disruption and clinical measures of knee function and structure. A comprehensive assessment following ACL treatment should aim to provide a complete overview of the treatment result, optimally including the various aspects of outcome categories. For most research questions, a minimum follow-up of 2 years with an optimal follow-up rate of 80% is necessary to achieve a comprehensive assessment. This should include clinical examination, any sustained re-injuries, validated knee-specific PROs and Health-Related Quality of Life questionnaires. In the mid- to long-term follow-up, the presence of osteoarthritis should be evaluated. Conclusion: This consensus paper provides practical guidelines for how the aforementioned entities of outcomes should be reported and suggests the preferred tools for a reliable and valid assessment of outcome after ACL treatment. Level of evidence: V

Predictors of Outcome after Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

An anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is one of the most common injuries to the knee joint. It is also one of the most researched areas within sports medicine, orthopedics and physical therapy. The goal of this thesis was to evaluate patient-related, surgery-related and injury-related factors that affect the outcome after an ACL reconstruction. This thesis comprises nine studies covering three themes: developing a foundation for research, short-term predictors and long-term predictors. The primary statistical methods used in this thesis were univariable and multivariable regression analyses with the various binary or continuous dependent outcomes. The first theme consists of two studies; a cross-sectional analysis of a rehabilitation outcome register, Project ACL, and a systematic review of the Scandinavian knee ligament registers. Based on the results of the study presenting Project ACL, patients who returned to knee-strenuous sport were characterized as having superior patient-reported knee function and a superior psychological state compared with patients who had not returned to knee-strenuous sport. Moreover, this study also illustrated the differences in results related to various definitions of return to sport. Modifiable factors identified in the Scandinavian knee ligament registers that favor superior patient-reported outcome include not smoking, pre- and postoperative specialized rehabilitation, using a hamstring tendon autograft and less time between ACL injury and reconstruction. The non-modifiable factors found in the registers that favor a superior patient-reported outcome included male sex, younger age and not having sustained a concomitant intra-articular injury. The second theme consists of five prospective studies based on the Swedish National Knee Ligament Register, Project ACL and a multicenter trial. This theme covered the short-term outcomes related to patient-reported knee function, achieving symmetrical knee function defined as a limb symmetry index of ≥ 90% in five tests of muscle function and return to sport. In terms of patient-related factors, male sex and younger age had a positive influence on returning to sport and patient-reported knee function in the short term, but not on recovering symmetrical knee function. In addition, a higher pre-injury level of physical activity was associated with returning to sport. In terms of surgery-related factors, the use of a hamstring tendon autograft had a positive effect on patient-reported knee function. Finally, patients who had sustained concomitant injuries appeared to run an increased risk of inferior outcome in patient-reported knee function and returning to sport after an ACL reconstruction. The third theme consists of two studies; an exploratory analysis of two randomized trials and a long-term analysis of the Swedish National Knee Ligament Register. This theme covered the long-term outcomes related to patient-reported knee function and the development of osteoarthritis, i.e. Kellgren-Lawrence grade ≥ 2. In terms of patient-related factors, a minor effect on long-term knee function and osteoarthritis appears to be related to patient characteristics. A lower preoperative body mass index may, however, be an important attribute in understanding which patients report better long-term knee function. Surgery-related factors showed no clinically relevant effect on the long-term outcomes that were studied. The presence of concomitant injuries appears to have a negative influence on the long-term outcome, where cartilage lesions in particular are risk factors for inferior knee function

Physical symptoms among professional gamers within eSports : a survey study

Background: There is a need to establish the prevalence of self-reported physical symptoms such as pain in professional gamers (PGs) and to analyse whether there are correlations between lifestyle factors and self-reported physical symptoms. The purpose of this study was to analyse the prevalence of self-reported physical symptoms including eye-related problems in PGs. A further aim was to analyse the association between physical symptoms and lifestyle factors such as sleep time, play time and physical activity. Methods: This study was designed as a cross-sectional study with data based on an electronic survey, created specifically for this study, through discussion and screening of established validated questionnaires for physical symptoms in musculoskeletal conditions: the Karolinska Sleep Questionnaire and the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire. The survey comprised age and years of experience as a PG as descriptive variables, as well as questions on sleep, play time, physical activity and physical symptoms for the purpose of analysis. The directors of 10 professional gaming corporations were contacted by email with a link to the study-specific survey to distribute to all employees. Results: A total of 40 answers to the electronic survey were retrieved from 40 PGs, of which 62.5% (n = 25) had experienced at least one physical symptom in the three months prior to answering the survey. There was a significant association between playing time and physical symptoms (OR = 8.0; 95% CI 1.4–44.6, p = 0.018), where playing for more than 35 h a week was positively associated with eight times higher odds of experiencing physical symptoms. Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of physical symptoms, such as headache and eye symptoms, in professional eSports gamers. There was an association between playing more than 35 h per week with the prevalence of physical symptoms

Knee strength, hop performance and self-efficacy at 4 months are associated with symmetrical knee muscle function in young athletes 1 year after an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

ObjectivesWe investigated whether patient demographics, 4-month patient-reported outcomes (PRO) and muscle function predicted young athletes regaining symmetrical muscle function in five tests of muscle function 1 year after ACL reconstruction.MethodsWe extracted data on patient demographics, PROs and the results of five tests of muscle function from a rehabilitation-specific register. Athletes were 15–30 years of age, involved in knee-strenuous sport and had undergone a primary ACL reconstruction. The primary outcome was achieving a Limb Symmetry Index of ≥90% for the battery of tests 1 year after ACL reconstruction. Patient demographics, muscle-function data and results for PROs at the 4-month follow-up were analysed.ResultsIn all, 237 athletes (59% female; mean age 22±4 years) were included in the study. One year after ACL reconstruction, 26% (62/237) of the included athletes had achieved symmetrical muscle function. Univariable analysis showed that symmetrical muscle function was associated with present self-efficacy, OR 1.28 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.58, p=0.011), knee-extension strength, OR 1.73 (95% CI 1.28 to 2.34), knee-flexion strength, OR 1.39 (95% CI 1.07 to 1.81), vertical hop, OR 1.77 (95% CI 1.27 to 2.45), single-leg hop for distance, OR 1.98 (95% CI 1.24 to 3.17) and side hop, OR 1.64 (95% CI 1.15 to 2.33).ConclusionSymmetrical knee-extension and knee-flexion strength, a more symmetrical hop performance and higher present self-efficacy at an early stage all increased the odds of achieving symmetrical muscle function in young athletes 1 year after ACL reconstruction