Implementing quality indicators through clinician and patient online toolkits to improve rehabilitation care and outcomes after hip and knee replacement for osteoarthritis

Each year, more than 18,000 British Columbians have joint replacement surgery for hip or knee osteoarthritis. Many face challenges in getting timely, quality rehabilitation before, and especially after surgery. I have developed quality indicators that set minimum standards of rehabilitation care for joint replacements. Focusing on 10 of these quality indicators for care after surgery, my team of clinicians, patients and researchers have created online toolkits to help make these indicators available to patients and clinicians who provide joint replacement rehabilitation in BC. The toolkits contain resources such as checklists, videos, and posters. After first testing our study procedures, I will run a study to see if the toolkits make a difference in overall quality of rehabilitation care and lead to better experiences and results for patients. Patients, clinicians and those who make decisions about healthcare services, will be part of every stage of this work. I will share my findings widely to researchers, clinicians and patients locally and across Canada. This research will lead to better, more consistent care for patients and improve the joint replacement rehabilitation services available in BC.