Telenursing: A pilot of telephone review after intra-articular knee injection

Abstract

Summary Telephone follow-up of orthopaedic patients after outpatient procedures reduces the number of patient visits and the waiting time for other patients to be seen in clinic. This article describes the piloting of a nurse-led telephone, or telenursing, follow-up clinic for patients after intra-articular knee injection of hyaluronic acid for knee osteoarthritis (OA). Thirty patients were included in a pilot study and were contacted at home 3 months after their knee injection. Each telephone consultation lasted an average of 18.5min and 90% of patients preferred telephone follow-up to a clinic visit. It resulted in a fall in waiting time for the injection clinic from 12 to 5 weeks. Practical issues highlighted included allocating nurse practitioner time for the calls and the availability of telephone equipment. The pilot study has led to the setting up of a permanent telephone follow-up service for patients following knee injection, which may be extended to other patients following procedures such as total hip replacement/total knee replacement (THR/TKR). The issues raised in the pilot study and the results of the study are considered in relation to the literature on telenursing.