Southland Hospital's experience with the Austin Moore hemiarthroplasty

The assessment of hospital performance with reference to patients who receive Austin Moore hemiarthroplasty for neck of femur fractures and the assessment of patients at medium term follow up.

A retrospective review of 103 Austin Moore hemiarthroplasties in 101 patients. This review spans an 11 year period at this institution. A clinical follow up of survivors including pain, x-ray and Harris hip score to evaluate their current position.

Mean hospital stay remained unchanged at 39.13 days. Also unchanged were the percentage of patients returning home at 44.6%. The time to surgery improved significantly over the review period being on average 2.8 days. Medium term follow up of surviving patients (16 patients) showed 14 patients with poor Harris hip scores. Radiographic analysis did not explain the clinical outcome.

Whilst at this institution, total time to surgery improved total hospital stay and percentage discharged home remained unchanged. Medium term surviving Austin Moore patients should be followed as their hip function may deteriorate excessively with time. The predicted increase in patient load will further pressure the current resources making substantial improvements more difficult.