Dislocation after hip replacement: an interview study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A qualitative study to examine the psychosocial impact of dislocation after hip replacement
IRAS ID
142557
Contact name
Emma Johnson
Contact email
Research summary
Total hip replacement (THR) is one of the most common operations carried out in the NHS. Most people who choose to undergo THR have a good outcome, for example, they have less pain and improved movement. However, around 3% of patients find that their hip dislocates after THR. Also, around half of these patients will then go on to experience another dislocation. Dislocation is when the head of the femur comes out of its socket in the pelvis. This causes severe pain and has to be treated immediately by putting the hip back into place while the patient is under sedation or general anaesthetic. It is estimated that each year in the NHS over 1,700 patients have this painful and distressing complication.
We would like to learn how this complication affects an individual at the time of the event and how it then continues to affect their wellbeing, daily life and recovery from their operation. This is needed to help in the design of better information for patients and future research that might try to reduce the number of dislocations. To the best of our knowledge no one has talked to people who have dislocated their replaced hip to find out about their experiences. We plan to conduct face-to-face interviews with 25 patients who have experienced dislocation of their hip following their THR. The researcher will ask them questions about when their hip dislocated, how it felt, their thoughts on why it happened, and how the event continues to affect their life. During the interview patients will also be asked about the care they had after the event and how the support and information they have received could have been improved. The findings from the study will help us to learn about the important issues and support needs for this group of patients.
REC name
London - Bromley Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/LO/1858
Date of REC Opinion
24 Dec 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion