Hospitals throughout Australia, both public and private, that undertake hip or knee replacement were contacted to participate in data collection for the Registry. Following initial contact with hospital administration and orthopaedic surgeons, an Information Collection Document outlining the Registry and data collection was provided to each hospital. The document was prepared in a manner to allow hospital administrations the choice of presenting the document to an ethics, quality assurance or medical advisory committee. Once approval was given, procedures were implemented to begin data collection. Each hospital nominated a hospital coordinator (usually a member of theatre nursing staff) to liaise with Registry staff.
Implementation of the Registry commenced in nine South Australian hospitals in September 1999. Since that time all hospitals in Australia that undertake joint replacement have agreed to submit data. Currently the Registry receives information on over 4000 procedures per month.
Table NJRR1: Dates of implementation by state and territory
Note: The Registry was implemented in a staged manner on a state-by-state basis. Table NJRR1 shows the commencement date for each state and a date by which the majority of hospitals for that state were participating. 2003 saw the first full year of complete national data.
The full list of hospitals participating in the Registry may be accessed via www.dmac.adelaide.edu.au/aoanjrr/contributors.jsp
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