A national survey of conservative mallet finger injury care and the potential for 3D printing to impact current practice

Abstract

Purpose

Custom orthoses provided by a skilled therapist are deemed the gold standard of care for the treatment of mallet injury, but traditional orthoses are still used. It is unclear to what extent custom orthoses versus traditional off the shelf variants are currently provided to treat mallet injury. The study aims to investigate current practice regarding the conservative treatment of mallet injury in Ireland. The study also aims to assess healthcare providers' awareness of and opinions to the use of 3D printing in healthcare.

Design/Methodology/ Approach

This study was cross-sectional in design and used an online survey methodology. Healthcare professionals involved in the treatment of mallet injuries from both public and private settings were eligible for inclusion. Data collection involved convenience and snowball sampling with the survey being promoted by professional bodies, distributed at national meetings and circulated via social media. Data analysis took place in Excel and comprised descriptive statistics.

Findings

In total 86 participants completed the survey including nurses (58 %), doctors (2 8 %), allied health professionals (9 %) and other healthcare professionals (5 %). Non personalised orthosis including the Stack splint were most frequently applied (58 %). Regarding 3D printing, 52 % of participants reported they were not aware of 3DP in healthcare. However, 80 % overall said they would be interested in using it in the future. The inference from this is that they have a positive attitude toward the use of 3D printing, considering they have a low knowledge of using it in this discipline.

Originality/value

This study provides an insight into healthcare professionals’ recent experiences of treating mallet injuries in the Irish healthcare system. There remains a lack of custom orthosis creation to treat mallet injury. The respondent's openness to using 3D printing technology is promising and suggests that in the future 3D printing of custom orthoses may have a role in the treatment of mallet injuries. However, custom care, and not just a custom orthosis, would provide patients with optimal treatment.