Improving the availability of intra-operative images created during trauma operations - a multidisciplinary team collaboration

Intraoperative x rays are regularly taken on multiple occasions during orthopaedic surgery, especially during the course of planned trauma lists where procedures are performed under x ray guidance. These images have an important role in demonstrating the nature of the operation to clinical staff and in permitting an assessment of the standard of surgery by colleagues at planned metalwork reviews. Furthermore, they represent an important medico-legal record of the fracture configuration at the time of completion of surgery. Various technologies are available for the creation, storage, and presentation of such images. In our hospital, relatively unsophisticated technology is employed to physically print such x rays before they are digitally uploaded to an electronic computer system to be stored. This system also allows the images to be viewed. Unfortunately, many opportunities existed within our systems which created opportunities for images to be lost so that they were not made available to clinical staff. We aimed to evaluate and improve this system with the aim of making all x rays taken intraoperatively available to clinical staff in a timely manner. By examining the processes through which images were handled, we were able to adopt strategies to ensure the prompt production of images.