Due to large volume of knee osteoarthritis referrals and increasing waiting times, the contents of referrals and patient's pathways were analyzed in the Jyväskylä Central Hospital.
The referral contents of 171 knee osteoarthritis patients referred to the orthopedic outpatient clinic were screened, and the post-referral treatment decisions were pulled from the medical records.
Most of the referrals had information about the diagnosis (90%), pain (88%) and symptom duration (80%). The least frequently mentioned were BMI (3%) and the implementation of conservative treatment (7%). During the specialist visit following the referral, 62% of the patients ended up in operative and 38% in conservative treatment. There was no connection between the referral contents and the line of treatment chosen.
Conservative treatment of knee osteoarthritis should be optimized prior to referral to specialist care.