Study Probes Durability of Smoking Cessation for Elective Surgery

Terry Stanton

Almost half of patients who quit smoking remained nonsmokers after one year A study appearing in the August 15 issue of the Journal of the AAOS found that among patients who complied with a requirement to quit smoking before elective lower-extremity orthopaedic surgery, 48 percent maintained smoking cessation for at least one year postoperatively.

P Value: Purpose, Power, and Potential Pitfalls

Ayoosh Pareek, MD; Chad Parkes, MD; R. Kyle Martin, MD, FRCSC; Lars Engebretsen, MD, PhD; Aaron J. Krych, MD

A P value indicates the probability that an observed result occurred by chance. In most modern literature, this is interpreted in the context of a type 1 error, which is defined as the probability of finding a difference between treatments by chance when a difference does not actually exist (Fig. 1). To reject a null hypothesis, which is the assumption that two groups are the same, it is generally accepted that a P value has to be less than the standard significance level (alpha) of 0.05.

Resident Research and Fellowship Applications: Quantity or Quality?

Daniel A. London

Orthopaedic surgery residents learn to balance many priorities during training, one of which is participation in research. A common dilemma residents struggle with is whether to participate in fewer but higher-quality research projects, which likely require greater time commitments, or in a greater number of (but possibly lower-quality) research projects.

NOLC Session Asks, ‘How Do We Define Value in Health Care?’

Kerri Fitzgerald

U.S. health spending was 17.2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2016, according to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. But GDP is not the right measure of success in a healthcare system, according to Robert H. Quinn, MD, chair of the AAOS Council on Research and Quality, who said success can be measured only by the value delivered per dollar spent.