Alternatives to support total knee arthroplasty procedures in the rep-less model
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
1-1-2018
Abstract
Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is a prevalent orthopedic surgery in the United States. Typically, a sales representative is present in the operating room (OR) to provide technical assistance to the surgeon. This raises safety and liability concerns (e.g. joint infection, increased duration and cost). Consequently, some orthopedic manufacturers have launched rep-less sales models. The purpose of this study is to present alternative models to support rep-less TKA surgeries in terms of surgery time and OR resource utilization. Data was collected for twelve rep-less TKA surgeries performed by three surgeons at two hospitals. The surgeries were categorized into three rep-less models using different combinations of having an internal implant specialist, an e-manual, or a trained scrub-tech. Results showed that having an internal specialist, scrub-tech and e-manual had the shortest surgery time mean 47.5 min (10.3 min), and having a scrub-tech receiving guidance from an internal specialist or having a trained scrub-tech using an e-manual had similar and longer surgery time mean 76 min (1.0 min) and 75.7 min (9.3 min), respectively. Lessons learned from this study will be integrated into OR staffing models for orthopedic procedures that adopt rep-less models.
Publication Source (Journal or Book title)
IISE Annual Conference and Expo 2018
First Page
593
Last Page
598
Recommended Citation
Ahmad, A., Nahmens, I., Ikuma, L., & Gudipudi, Y. (2018). Alternatives to support total knee arthroplasty procedures in the rep-less model. IISE Annual Conference and Expo 2018, 593-598. Retrieved from https://repository.lsu.edu/mechanical_engineering_pubs/1080