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Reduced delays in A&E for elderly patients with hip fractures
C P Charalambous1, S Yarwood, C Paschalides
1University Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester, UK. bcharalambos@hotmail.com
Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England
|July 2, 2003
Abstract:
Published guidelines recommend early transfer of patients with hip fractures to hospital wards and avoidance of unnecessary delays in A&E. We describe a protocol whereby the liaison of an orthopaedic trauma co-ordinator with A&E reduced A&E-to-ward transfer times by 43%. Following introduction of the new protocol, 39% of hip fracture patients were in a ward bed within 3 h of admission to A&E compared to 4% previously. The new protocol also reduces administrative workload for the on-call orthopaedic SHOs.