Implementing an advanced physiotherapy outpatient triaging service as a model for improvement for patients recently discharged following surgical intervention for hip fracture.

Every year there are 1.3 million hip fractures globally; this is expected to rise to 6 million by 2050. Estimates of global cost is 1.75 million disability adjusted life years, and in established market economies, costs associated with hip fracture represent 1.4% of the total healthcare burden. New models of care will be required to meet this demand. Advance physiotherapy roles in elective arthroplasty across global settings have demonstrated benefit in safely reducing time burden on surgical teams and healthcare costs. The utility of similar roles in the care of hip fracture is unclear. This quality initiative (2020-2023) aimed to implement and evaluate a new model of care substituting a surgical registrar with an advanced physiotherapist in a post-discharge hip fracture clinic. Across many nonlinear, action/reflection cycles, a multi-disciplinary team engaged to operationalize key implementation strategies, mapped to the Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC) project. Across the reporting period, 346 patients were seen by an advanced physiotherapist. Eighty-one patients seen by an advanced physiotherapist required informal discussion with the consultant surgeon. Fifteen patients required a formal consultant review. There were no patient complaints, critical incidents or other unintended consequences. The net surgical time realized over the three years was 110 hours.

Diagnosis of overweight or obese malnutrition spells DOOM for hip fracture patients: A prospective audit.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Crude diagnostic parameters such as BMI limit recognition of malnutrition in overweight and obese patients. This study applied a robust malnutrition diagnostic measure to investigate whether malnutrition impacts clinical outcomes in overweight or obese hip fracture inpatients. METHODS: A prospective, consecutive 12-month audit of inpatients admitted to a dedicated hip fracture unit with a BMI of ≥25 for surgical intervention. Univariate and logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate the relationship of demographics (age, gender), comparative measures (type of fracture, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) on admission, time to surgery, type of surgery and anaesthesia, nutrition status) and outcome measures (delirium, time to mobilise post-operatively, length of stay, 12-month mortality). Malnutrition was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision - Australian Modification protein-energy malnutrition criteria. RESULTS: 127 overweight or obese hip fracture patients for surgical intervention were included in analyses. Patients were predominantly older females (median 81.0, range 48-97 years; 66.9%). Malnutrition prevalence was not infrequent (18.3%) despite the median BMI of 28.3 (range 25.0-63.9). Mortality at 12-months (17.3%) was lower than routinely reported across broader hip fracture populations. Logistic regression modelling demonstrated that malnutrition increased the likelihood of 12-month mortality (OR: 4.47, 95% CI 1.27-15.77; p = 0.020), post-operative delirium (OR: 3.64, 95% CI 1.00 to 13.33; p = 0.051), and delayed post-operative mobility (OR: 3.29, 95% CI 1.05 to 10.31; p = 0.041), in overweight or obese hip fracture patients. Length of stay demonstrated poor association with all predictor measures. CONCLUSION: Hip fracture patients who are both overweight or obese, and malnourished, have significantly and substantially worse clinical outcomes than their well-nourished, albeit overweight or obese, counterparts. Comprehensive nutrition assessment measures should be applied to all hip fracture inpatients to ensure appropriate clinical nutrition care is appropriately directed.

Impact of malnutrition on 12-month mortality following acute hip fracture.

BACKGROUND: Studies investigating the relationship between malnutrition and post-discharge mortality following acute hip fracture yield conflicting results. This study aimed to determine whether malnutrition independently predicted 12-month post-fracture mortality after adjusting for clinically relevant covariates. METHODS: An ethics approved, prospective, consecutive audit was undertaken for all surgically treated hip fracture inpatients admitted to a dedicated orthogeriatric unit (November 2010-October 2011). The 12-month mortality data were obtained by a dual search of the mortality registry and Queensland Health database. Malnutrition was evaluated using the Subjective Global Assessment. Demographic (age, gender, admission residence) and clinical covariates included fracture type, time to surgery, anaesthesia type, type of surgery, post-surgery time to mobilize and post-operative complications (delirium, pulmonary and deep vein thrombosis, cardiac complications, infections). The Charlson Comorbidity Index was retrospectively applied. All diagnoses were confirmed by the treating orthogeriatrician. RESULTS: A total of 322 of 346 patients were available for audit. Increased age (P = 0.004), admission from residential care (P < 0.001), Charlson Comorbidity Index (P = 0.007), malnutrition (P < 0.001), time to mobilize >48 h (P < 0.001), delirium (P = 0.003), pulmonary embolism (P = 0.029) and cardiovascular complication (P = 0.04) were associated with 12-month mortality. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that malnutrition (odds ratio (OR) 2.4 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3-4.7, P = 0.007)), in addition to admission from residential care (OR 2.6 (95% CI 1.3-5.3, P = 0.005)) and pulmonary embolism (OR 11.0 (95% CI 1.5-78.7, P = 0.017)), independently predicted 12-month mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Findings substantiate malnutrition as an independent predictor of 12-month mortality in a representative sample of hip fracture inpatients. Effective strategies to identify and treat malnutrition in hip fracture should be prioritized.