Evidence-Based Medicine
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. Jul 18, 2015; 6(6): 483-490
Published online Jul 18, 2015. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v6.i6.483
Evaluation of current surgeon practice for patients undergoing lumbar spinal fusion surgery in the United Kingdom
Alison Rushton, Louise White, Alison Heap, Nicola Heneghan
Alison Rushton, Nicola Heneghan, School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom
Louise White, Alison Heap, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre, Birmingham B15 2TH, United Kingdom
Author contributions: All authors contributed to this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest arising from this work.
Data sharing statement: No further data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Alison Rushton, Senior Lecturer of Physiotherapy, School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom. a.b.rushton@bham.ac.uk
Telephone: +44-121-4158597
Received: February 26, 2015
Peer-review started: February 27, 2015
First decision: April 27, 2015
Revised: May 20, 2015
Accepted: June 1, 2015
Article in press: June 2, 2015
Published online: July 18, 2015
Core Tip

Core tip: This study surveyed all surgeons carrying out lumbar spinal fusions in the United Kingdom (response rate 73.8%) to ascertain current practice. Eighty-four percent of participants were orthopaedic surgeons and their experience of lumbar spinal fusion ranged from 1-15 years, each performing 4-250 operations in the previous 12 mo. Surgeons consistently saw patients preoperatively, ensured patients are mobile within 3 d of surgery, and valued post-operative physiotherapy. However, variability of protocols, duration of hospital stay, use of discharge criteria, frequency and timing of outpatient follow up, use of written patient information and outcome measures was considerable. Much variability was explained through patient-centred care.