Update on the South African Orthopaedic Registry: Where are we? And where are we going?

Abstract

Different metrics are used to quantify results in healthcare quality. Funders and hospital groups rely on process and structural outcomes to quantify healthcare quality. Clinicians and other edical professionals rely on patients’ responses to treatment and outcome measurements. The days of guessing patient outcomes are long gone, and evidence-based medicine is the norm today. Patient outcomes collection is as old as medicine itself. The significance of a nationwide standardised database, in the form of the South African Orthopaedic Registry (SAOR), is vital, and ethical data collection cannot be overstated. Surgeons must allocate resources in their daily workflow towards implementing evidence-based practice. The community’s requirements are also a crucial factor to consider while assessing the results of surgical procedures.

There is no universally prescribed method for establishing a database. It is unlikely for individuals to reach a consensus on the
information to be gathered in such a database. As surgeons, we must be committed to a standardised database to collect similar data on a single platform. The SAOR gathers key datasets following international standards and norms.