An evaluation of the outcome metric 'days alive and at home' in older patients after hip fracture surgery.

'Days alive and at home' is a validated measure that estimates the time spent at home, defined as the place of residence before admission to hospital. We evaluated this metric in older adults after hip fracture surgery and assessed two follow-up durations, 30 and 90 days. Patients aged ≥ 70 years who underwent hip fracture surgery were identified retrospectively via hospital admission and government mortality records.

Distinguishing cerebrospinal fluid from saline used to identify the extradural space.

Because of the potential seriousness of unrecognized dural puncture during the performance of extradural analgesia and the widespread use of normal saline for the "loss of resistance" technique, it is important to differentiate between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and saline dripping from the extradural needle. During insertion of lumbar drains in 10 neurosurgical patients, we first identified the extradural space using saline for loss of resistance. Temperature (using the back of the gloved hand), pH, glucose and protein (using urine testing sticks) were tested by a blinded observer for ability to distinguish saline aspirated from the extradural space from CSF aspirated on establishing the dural puncture.