When people encounter Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists (SOS) in the community, they usually see a phrase, “Total Orthopedic Care,” which describes how SOS is committed to following their patients through the entire continuum of care including surgery, postoperative care, physical therapy, and recovery care at home. SOS has long been viewed as the experts in orthopedic care in Central New York. Their ongoing patient satisfaction scores indicate patients are overall greatly pleased with their care and outcomes, but to the clinical team at SOS, there is always the drive to continuously assess and improve the patient experience as well as surgical outcomes.
To objectively assess various surgical outcome measures, SOS established a Joint Registry, with the first report published in 2016. A joint registry is a data repository that collects critical information regarding patients’ functionality before, during and at regular intervals after completion of the joint replacement. The report tracks patient progress and well-being prior to and after surgery through both online questionnaires for patients to complete, as well as data collected during surgery by SOS surgeons. It is assembled by SOS’ research department which then compares SOS patients’ specific outcomes with other joint replacement program patient outcomes.
SOS published its first comprehensive Joint Registry report in 2018. What strikes SOS the most is that patient outcome measures remain consistently high. “It brings me great joy and professional satisfaction to see that our outcome measurements meet or exceed those of the best joint replacement programs in the country”, said Brett Greenky, MD, president of SOS. “I am proud of the entire SOS team for their dedication, hard work, commitment to excellence and compassion for our patients. Each and every one of them has an integral role in the patient experience and patient outcomes.”
The 2020 SOS Joint Registry Reports:
- 9 out of 10 hip replacement patients report improved outcomes by six weeks after surgery.
- Over 97% of total hip replacement and hip resurfacing patients report improved outcomes scores by six months after surgery.
- 92% of hip replacement patients report that surgery met or exceeded their expectations with regard to motion and strength.
- Over 91% of knee replacement patients surgery report improved outcome scores by three weeks after surgery.
- 8 out of 10 knee replacement patients report improved outcomes scores by six weeks after surgery.
In addition to reported patient satisfaction the SOS Joint Registry uses five validated outcome instruments to measure pain and functionality in the surgical population, and patients meet or exceed benchmarks on all these scoring instruments:
- The Harris Hip Score is intended to measure pain, function, deformity and range of motion in adult patients with varying hip disabilities and approaches in treatment.
- Western Ontario and McMaster University’s Osteoarthritis Image (WOMAC) is intended to measure pain, stiffness and physical function in patients with osteoarthritis of the hip.
- The Oxford Hip Score is intended to measure difficulty associated with hip pain in patients undergoing total hip replacement.
- SF12v2 is intended to monitor health outcomes and measure physical and mental status in general and specific outcome.
- The UCLA Activity Score is intended to assess physical activity patients undergoing total joint arthroplasty.
While these statistics show a high rate of satisfaction among patients for their surgical procedures, there are other measures that SOS tracks to show quality of life for patients. For example, before knee arthroplasty, 91% of patients could not walk upstairs without debilitating pain, but just three months after surgery, 60% of patients could use stairs with no or very little pain.
“At SOS we are experts in orthopedic procedures and are fortunate to have an extremely talented team of physicians and clinicians,” said Dr. Brett Greenky. “While our patient outcomes exceed national benchmarks, we are also committed to guiding patients through their journey and return to daily activities. There is no better validation than having a patient share a before and after surgery story with us. To hear that a patient debilitated by pain before a joint replacement is then pain free and mobile, playing and creating memories with his/her grandchildren after surgery and rehabilitation, is the outcome for which we strive.”
