Papers of the Week

The introduction of enhanced recovery pathways has demonstrated both patient and organisational benefits. However, enhanced recovery pathways implemented for total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) vary between health-care organisations, as do their measures of success, particularly patient-related outcomes. Despite inpatient functional recovery being essential for safe and timely hospital discharge, there is currently no gold standard method for its assessment, and the research undertaken to establish prognostic factors is limited. This study aimed to identify prognostic factors and subsequently develop prognostic models for inpatient functional recovery following primary, unilateral THA and TKA; identify factors associated with acute length of stay; and assess the relationships between inpatient function and longer-term functional outcomes.