ACCELERATING CARE FOR KNEE INJURIES: IMPACT OF A NOVEL ACUTE KNEE INJURY VIRTUAL TRIAGE CLINIC ON TIMELY DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT

Knee injuries are a common presentation to Emergency Departments (ED). Timely diagnosis and management are essential to improve outcomes. Variability exists in their management using conventional pathways and significant knee injuries can go undiagnosed, or delay to treatment, for conditions in which early intervention can affect natural progression, potentially compromising patients’ recovery and function. This project presents the first 102 patients referred by the ED to an innovative, acute knee injury virtual triage clinic which was introduced to improve referral process and management of knee injuries. Data analysed includes patient demographics, types of injury, and key time intervals from injury to virtual review, clinical assessment, further imaging and any subsequent surgery. The cohort included 48 females (47.1%) and 54 males (52.9%), with a mean age of 30.08 years. Sports-related incidents caused 41.2% of injuries (42 patients), 27 of which (26.5%) were football-related. Patients were triaged in the virtual knee injury clinic an average of 2.32 days post-injury. 10 % were discharged directly from the virtual clinic. 58% of patients underwent urgent MRI scan. Anterior cruciate ligament injury (21.5 %) was the most common diagnosis. Surgical intervention was ultimately required in 24 patients (24%) with an average time to surgery from injury of 67 days (range 5–207). The acute knee injury virtual triage clinic and enhanced referral process offers timely review compared to traditional ED pathways and facilitates early diagnosis, clinically appropriate management plans, and is efficient use of clinical resource to optimise patient care following knee injury.