National register and questionnaires

HAKIR is a national quality register for hand surgery in Sweden, where almost all the departments of hand surgery are connected¹⁹, and patients with a age of 16 or older are included. Two questionnaires, HQ-8 and QuickDASH, are filled in by the patients preoperatively and at three and 12 months postoperatively.

The HAKIR-specific questionnaire HQ-8 includes eight questions based on the patient’s capability and symptoms in the affected hand, including questions about pain, stiffness, weakness, cold sensitivity, and their ability to work, sleep, and perform daily activities. No data were available from any PREM (patient-related evaluating measurement) questionaries or from any GROC (global rating of change) question. The responses are scored on a Likert scale between 0 and 100, where 0 is no problems and 100 is the worst case scenario²¹. The QuickDASH consists of eleven questions on a five-point Likert scale, where 1 is no difficulties and 5 is unable. In addition, if at least ten of eleven questions are answered a total QuickDASH score can be calculated, ranging from 0 to 100, where 100 represents the worst possible symptoms²². The Swedish version of the QuickDASH was used²².