• Matthew Green, Eleanor Tung, and Oday Al-Dadah.
• Senior House Officer, Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, South Tyneside District Hospital, South Shields NE34 0PL.
• Brit J Hosp Med. 2019 Jul 2; 80 (7): 405-409.

BackgroundInfection is a serious complication of prosthetic joint arthroplasty, associated with high rates of morbidity resulting in further surgical intervention and prolonged inpatient hospital admission. Rates of prosthetic joint infection have been reported as 1.5-2.5% following lower limb arthroplasty. This study compared infection rates in patients receiving primary hip and knee joint replacements before and after implementation of ring-fenced beds.MethodsRetrospective study of all patients undergoing primary total hip replacement and total knee replacement from April 2013 to February 2014. Group 1 included pre-ring-fencing patients, group 2 included post-ring-fencing patients.ResultsThe overall infection rate pre-ring-fencing was 6.3% (n=8). This reduced to 2.7% (n=3) post-ring-fencing. The mean inpatient length of stay for group 1 was 6 days vs 4 days for group 2.ConclusionsRing-fencing beds for patients undergoing elective lower limb arthroplasty significantly reduced rates of prosthetic joint infection and inpatient length of stay.

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