Home Run Initiative: Use of a Badge Buddy System in Patients With Hip Fracture

Discharge to home is an increasingly used hospital metric unlikely to be met by all patients after hip fracture surgery. There has never been a study using a badge buddy system in patients with hip fracture to improve rates of discharge to home.

This was a retrospective review of patients who underwent hip fracture surgery between October 2022 and September 2024. The badge buddy was a tag placed on the ID badges of the hip fracture care team, containing information regarding fracture type and talking points for staff members. Primary outcome variables included discharge disposition and readmissions.

A total of 172 patients were included in the control group and 163 patients in the badge buddy group. Discharge to home improved by 14.4% after project implementation (33.1% vs. 47.5%; p = .0038) without any differences in total readmissions (24 control vs. 22 badge buddy).

Use of the badge buddy is associated with an improved rate of discharge home in patients admitted to an orthopedic service without any difference in absolute number of readmissions after badge buddy initiation. The badge buddy system is a useful adjunct to create cohesive messaging across hospital staff to improve home discharge rates in our patients with hip fracture.