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Evidence to Improve Care

Hip Fracture

Care for People With Fragility Fractures

Click below to see a list of brief quality statements and scroll down for more information.


Quality standards are sets of concise statements designed to help health care professionals easily and quickly know what care to provide, based on the best evidence.

See below for the quality statements and click for more detail.


Quality Statement 1: Emergency Department Management
Patients with suspected hip fracture are diagnosed within 1 hour of arriving at hospital. Preparation for surgery is initiated, and patients are admitted and transferred to a bed in an inpatient ward within 8 hours of arriving at hospital.


Quality Statement 2: Surgery Within 48 Hours
Patients with hip fracture receive surgery as soon as possible, within 48 hours of their first arrival at any hospital (including any time spent in anonsurgical hospital).


Quality Statement 3: Multimodal Analgesia
Patients with suspected hip fracture have their pain assessed within 30 minutes of arriving at hospital and managed using a multimodal approach, including consideration of non-opioid systemic analgesics and peripheral nerve blocks.


Quality Statement 4: Surgery for Stable Intertrochanteric Fractures
Patients diagnosed with a stable intertrochanteric fracture are treated surgically with sliding hip screws.


Quality Statement 5: Surgery for Subtrochanteric or Unstable Intertrochanteric Fractures
Patients diagnosed with a subtrochanteric fracture or unstable intertrochanteric fracture are treated surgically with intramedullary nails.


Quality Statement 6: Surgery for Displaced Intracapsular Fractures
Patients diagnosed with a displaced intracapsular hip fracture are treated surgically with arthroplasty.


Quality Statement 7: Postoperative Blood Transfusions
Patients with hip fracture do not receive blood transfusions if they are asymptomatic and have a postoperative hemoglobin level equal to or higher than 80 g/L.


Quality Statement 8: Weight-Bearing as Tolerated
Patients with hip fracture are mobilized to weight-bearing as tolerated within 24 hours following surgery.


Quality Statement 9: Daily Mobilization
After surgery, patients with hip fracture are mobilized on a daily basis to increase their functional tolerance.


Quality Statement 10: Screening for and Managing Delirium
Patients with hip fracture are screened for delirium using a validated tool as part of their initial assessment and then at least once every 12 hours while in hospital, after transitions between settings, and after any change in medical status. Patients receive interventions to prevent delirium and to promote recovery if delirium is present.


Quality Statement 11: Postoperative Management
Patients with hip fracture receive postoperative care from an interdisciplinary team in accordance with principles of geriatric care.


Quality Statement 12: Patient, Family, and Caregiver Information
Patients with hip fracture and/or their family and caregivers are given information on patient care that is tailored to meet the patient’s needs and delivered at appropriate times in the care continuum.


Quality Statement 13: Rehabilitation
Patients with hip fracture participate in an interdisciplinary rehabilitation program (in an inpatient setting, a community setting, or a combination of both) with the goal of returning to their pre-fracture functional status.


Quality Statement 14: Osteoporosis Management
While in hospital, patients with hip fracture undergo an osteoporosis assessment from a clinician with osteoporosis expertise and, when appropriate, are offered pharmacologic therapy for osteoporosis.


Quality Statement 15: Follow-Up Care
Patients with hip fracture are discharged from inpatient care with a scheduled follow-up appointment with a primary care provider within 2 weeks of returning home and a scheduled follow-up appointment with the orthopaedic service within 12 weeks of their surgery.

8

Weight-Bearing as Tolerated

Patients with hip fracture are mobilized to weight-bearing as tolerated within 24 hours following surgery.


Surgery for hip fracture should be planned to allow patients to achieve weight-bearing as tolerated, without restriction, within 24 hours following surgery. Full weight-bearing enables early mobilization, supports patients’ return to their pre-fracture level of mobility, and reduces the risk of adverse events associated with restricted weight-bearing and prolonged immobility. All modern hip fracture implants are designed to facilitate full weight-bearing.

In rare situations where younger patients experience displaced femoral neck fractures and undergo reduction and fixation, a period of ‘toe-touch’ weight-bearing may be appropriate.

In any situation where a hip fracture patient is discharged from hospital without being capable of full weight-bearing, detailed orders, including the rationale for and duration of the patient’s weight-bearing status, should be clearly documented and communicated to the patient’s post–acute care providers.

For Patients

You should be able to put as much weight as is comfortable on the injured leg within 24 hours of your surgery.


For Clinicians

Plan surgery with the aim of enabling patients to achieve weight-bearing as tolerated within 24 hours of their operation.


For Health Services

Ensure protocols, pathways, medical directives, and standardized order sets are in place to facilitate patients achieving weight-bearing as tolerated within 24 hours following surgery.

Outcome Indicator

Percentage of hip fracture patients who achieve weight-bearing as tolerated within 24 hours following surgery

  • Denominator: total number of adults admitted to hospital with a primary diagnosis of fragility hip fracture who undergo surgery for hip fracture

  • Numerator: number of people in the denominator who achieve weight-bearing as tolerated within 24 hours following surgery

  • Data source: local data collection

Weight-bearing as tolerated

Weight-bearing as tolerated involves putting as much weight as is comfortable for the patient on the leg that is on the same side as the injured hip.

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