Office Tips
Knee Flexion Angle Measurement Using Virtual Assessment Tools: Correct Procedure and Potential Pitfalls
Virtual patient assessment will inevitably require smartphone technology to remotely measure knee range of motion. We conducted an experiment to analyze the impact of observer position relative to the flexed knee on the perceived angle measured using an electronic application (Dr. Goniometer) for iPhone. Two observers measured the apparent knee flexion angle from 7 different positions at 3 different heights relative to the center of the knee joint. Intraclass correlations were calculated to evaluate the intraobserver and interobserver variability using two-way mixed-effects models.The University of Missouri Health Care approach to Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement
The University of Missouri Health Care is a 5-hospital academic medical center with 595 beds, located in the central United States. Our system was selected for mandatory participation in the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement bundled payment model and participated from April 2016 through December 2017. Using an established improvement model, we implemented several key strategies which resulted in improved quality and lower overall costs.Patients, pictures, and privacy: managing clinical photographs in the smartphone era
It is easy to capture and share clinical photographs and x-ray images using modern smartphones. This technology affords health-care providers the ability to rapidly collaborate and facilitate care for their patients. This improvement, however, has increased concerns regarding patient privacy and the safeguarding of protected health information. Health-care providers should understand the deidentification process for patient photographs because this process fundamentally changes the expectations and requirements for how providers are to handle this information.
