The Allied Health BONE Team:An interdisciplinary approach to orthopaedic early discharge and admission prevention

Abstract

This paper presents the conceptual framework, activities and outcomes of the AlliedHealth BONE (Best Orthopaedic New Enterprise) Team, an early discharge incentiveat the Gold Coast Hospital. The clinical team of a physiotherapist, occupationaltherapist and social worker provided services within an interdisciplinary model of carewith the aim of reducing the length of stay of acute adult orthopaedic patients. Theteam provided intervention in the community, the accident and emergencydepartment, pre-admission clinic and orthopaedic wards to patients with hip andknee replacements, back pain and upper femoral fractures. This paper reports datafrom the first six months of the project, demonstrating success in improving thecontinuity of care provided to orthopaedic patients and reducing the length of stayin target groups by 24%.