A new study published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery examines how consulting clinics in rural areas can improve orthopedic care.
The study authors examined orthopedic surgery outreach clinics in Iowa with data from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. The researchers found:
1. There were 4,596 visiting consultant clinic days in 2014, provided in predominantly rural sites.
2. The number of Iowa counties with orthopedic surgeons increased from 35 at the primary location to 88 at a visiting consultant clinic or primary practice location. There are 99 counties in Iowa all together.
3. Around 45 percent of the Iowa-based orthopedic surgeons participated in the visiting consultant clinics. Orthopedics surgeons drove a total of 32,496 miles per month to care for patients at these clinics.
4. The average driving distance for patients to the nearest orthopedic surgeon dropped from 19.2 miles to 8.4 miles for rural Iowans after the clinics were introduced.
5. The monthly visiting consultant clinics improved access to orthopedic surgeons for around 450,000 to 670,000 Iowans. The state has a total population of around 3 million.