Hip resurfacing – are we following the guidelines?

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines were released in June 2002 for hip resurfacing procedures. The aim of this audit was to see if these guidelines were being followed in our department. We looked at data from the previous two years, and obtained 28 sets of notes for patients who underwent this procedure. We looked at patient demographics, consent forms, and who had performed the operations. Results showed that the majority of patients were of the recommended age (93%), the consent forms were not adequately completed in all cases, but all of the procedures were carried out by appropriately trained consultants. In conclusion we would recommend consideration of use of a consent proforma for this procedure which would ensure that all complications are discussed with the patient.