Highlights: Component database re-design

Working closely with colleagues from EPRD, the German registry, a major project to re-classify and re-structure the NJR’s component database is nearing completion and is expected to go live in 2017/18.  The re-classification has included hip, knee, and shoulder joints with shoulders being undertaken in conjunction with the British Elbow and Shoulder Society (BESS).  With over 80,000 different components in the NJR database, this has been a major undertaking.  It has also involved reviewing and re-writing the business rules and data validation associated with the use of the implants to ensure that only correct combinations can be entered via the data entry system.

A new working group, the Component Database Working Group, has also been established to manage and approve all proposed changes to the classification, ensuring that the data held by both registers remains inter-changeable.  

An online system has also been implemented so that suppliers of orthopaedic medical devices can more easily upload and details of the implants.

The new classification provides a greater level of detail about implants and, once fully implemented, will enable different types of analyses to be undertaken.  It will also prevent the ‘camouflaging’ of poor performance by individual components within an otherwise well-performing brand or family of components.  Although existing components will be mapped into the new structure, the current classification will remain in use for the purposes of continuing current analyses, including outlier monitoring.