Yoeri Bemelmans

Chapter 11 172 days) hospital stay. Ideally, patients who are operated, decide after the operation, in close consultation with the ward doctor (personified by a physician assistant for example) and/or operating surgeon, when to leave the hospital according to preoperatively instructed discharge criteria. Future research should focus on a thorough clinical pathway for fast-track andoutpatient hip and knee arthroplasty. By examining the different entities within these clinical pathways, a further improvement in the outcomes after surgery can be achieved. In particular precise patient selection criteria will provide an evidence-based foundation for implementation of these clinical pathways to daily practice. More insights in the postoperative experiences and needs for care should be gathered. These new insights, directly after discharge, will lead to a more patients’ tailored care. To streamline this ongoing process and evidence-based discussion, peer collaboration between all the involved health-care professionals, led by a project manager (e.g. physician assistant), is of paramount importance.