A protocol for the reduction of waiting lists for prosthetic knee surgery and a monitoring program of osteoarthritis patients for pharmacies, winners of the Second INNOBA awards

Madrid, October 16, 2014. Recognizing projects or innovating initiatives contributing to the improvement of osteoarthritis management and the quality of healthcare provided to patients. This is the aim of the 2^nd INNOBA awards, sponsored by the Spanish Society of Healthcare Quality (SECA, Sociedad Española de Calidad Asistencial) and Bioiberica Farma, which have been delivered today at Madrid.

In the category of best hospital project, worth €10,000, the winner was Dr. Fernando Martínez Delgado, head of the knee unit of the orthopedic and trauma service of the Miguel Servet University Hospital, Zaragoza. This specialist and his team have implemented a protocol for patients subjected to total knee arthroplasty which managed to reduce post operatory hospital stays by 44.4 percent, as well as reducing healthcare costs and waiting lists. In the process, their protocol also accelerated the recovery of patients.

 “This protocol has wrought a true revolution in the hospital. We set out to reduce waiting lists without an increase in hospital resources, and, thanks to the coordinated work of the secretary, infirmary, anesthesia and surgery teams, we did it”, declared Dr. Martínez. Some of implemented procedures were: patient education, changes in the admission system, modifications of the surgery technique and analgesic treatments, early mobilization of the patient, and improved training of the infirmary staff with regard to the recovery of the patients’ autonomy procedures.

“This initiative reflects the high quality of the proposals received for this year’s edition. We asked for innovating proposals to improve the management of osteoarthritis, but that also took into account patient care. The awards given today prove that healthcare quality and management are two concepts that should be taken together,” affirmed Dr. Manel Santiñá, Secretary of the Spanish Society of Healthcare Quality.

As for the category of best project in primary care, also worth €10,000, the winners are Alicia González, community pharmacist and president of the Madrid delegation of the Spanish Society of Community Pharmacy, and José Enrique Alba, the Malaga representative of the SEFAC Andalucía and coordinator of the SEFAC’ joint healthcare group, for their OA patient monitoring program for pharmacies.

The project submitted by Ms. González and Mr. Alba is based on a year-long study of 141 OA patients of five pharmacies in Madrid. During the study’s period they collected information on the patients, the diagnosis, medicines taken, concomitant diseases, degree of pain and the functional status of their joints. The pharmacy staff offered them healthcare training, handing them written instructions for the self-care of the disease, and monitored those patients following ineffective treatments through periodical visits. “After six months, 17 percent of patients who were presenting very severe pain experienced a significant improvement. After another half year, this increased to 58 percent of patients. This demonstrates the enormously important role played by the community pharmaceutical staff in the monitoring of OA patients and in insuring the patients’ adherence to the treatment,” declared the Madrid president of SEFAC, Alicia González.

They propose that the next step would be to implement a pharmaceutical professional service for the monitoring (from the community pharmacy) of the therapeutic response of OA patients.

“From Bioiberica we wish to convey our most sincere recognition to all those professionals that, acting on their own initiative, are concerned about the reduction of the osteoarthritis global costs while, at the same time, improving the patients’ quality of life. With these awards we want to bring to the surface all those programs, experiences, ideas, or pilot tests, that already exist and that could be generally implemented in an almost immediate way,” concluded José Escaich, general manager at Bioiberica.

The award ceremony also featured a lecture by Dr. Santiago Niño Becerra, Professor of economic structures at the Ramon Llull University in Barcelona, who set out his personal views on the current situation of the Spanish economy and healthcare system.