How long have you worked as a Consultant Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgeon
“I have worked as a Consultant Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgeon for 7 years, during which I have had the pleasure of working across two hospitals: The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust in Harlow and Rivers Hospital in Sawbridgeworth.”
What made you decide to start collecting electronic outcome data?
“It is not uncommon to hear Orthopaedic Surgeons speak about their clinical practices based on anecdotal knowledge of their outcomes e.g., ‘most of my knee replacement patients do great but a handful have ongoing pain or stiffness’.
However, as a surgeon, I believe it is my responsibility to have a better understanding of my practice and patient outcomes.
Whilst there are tools such as the National Joint Registry (NJR), these tend to assess relatively crude measures of revision rates and do not necessarily represent one’s true practice, e.g., complications not leading to revision surgery, the ‘painful’ knee replacement, patient satisfaction etc. NHS Digital provides national and hospital-level PROMs data, but surgeon-level data is not accessible.
Amplitude has provided a solution for me as it addresses some of the aforementioned challenges. It allows me to assess and compare my practice to nationally available data as well as peer-reviewed publications. This can trigger learning and scrutinising of one’s practice to aim for better outcomes.”
Why did you choose Amplitude as your service provider?
“Upon searching for a solution in terms of PROMs collection, Amplitude seemed to provide the capabilities to cater to my needs – online platform accessible remotely; user friendly interface; e-mail-based system for PROMs collection; ability to analyse data.”
What are the 3 greatest benefits you have gained from using Amplitude?
- “Appraisal – annual analysis of data and inclusion in my appraisals.
- Consent – as a part of the decision-making process, I am able to quote data that is relevant to me when discussing outcomes and risks of proposed procedures with my patients.
- Change in Practice – The clinician-based Friends & Family data and patient comments are largely positive but the negative comments have been humbling. This leads me to reflect upon my practice and look at ways to improve in order to address the comments.”
What is your favourite, most-liked feature or function of Amplitude?
“It has to be the ability to analyse data at such a high level.”
Do you have any specific objectives that you want to achieve by using Amplitude?
“I want to create a career-long ‘registry’ of my patients with high PROMs compliance rates and regular analysis of data for reflection, appraisal and to identify areas of good practice and areas for improvement. In time, I hope to have a large cohort of registered patients and data that will create opportunities for audits and research purposes. I would also like the department I am part of to adopt use of Amplitude.”
How has your overall experience been with Amplitude?
“Excellent. The Amplitude pro one™ system is user-friendly and runs very smoothly with hardly any ‘glitches’, despite being an online platform. The Customer Service team is also excellent with prompt, friendly responses to any queries raised.”
Can you share a fun fact about yourself?
“My Japanese heritage and interest in football means that I enjoy visiting European cities to watch Japanese football players. This has exposed me to places that I may not have visited otherwise such as Eibar, Ghent, Venlo, Wolfsburg, Groningen and Kaunas to name a few.”