Perioperative management of elderly patients suffering a hip fracture.

Preparing elderly patients for emergency hip fracture surgery is a significant challenge for hospital staff. This article discusses the principles of preoperative care in these patients, and the rationale for such strategies, based on evidence and current guidelines. Such guidance increasingly reflects a national standard of care.

Using a proforma to improve standards of documentation of an orthopaedic post-take ward round.

In Trauma and Orthopaedics, a daily Trauma Meeting (TM) occurs, where the previous 24-hour take is discussed and a management plan is decided by the consultant on-take. The post-take ward-round (PTWR) usually follows. In the district general hospital (DGH) where this audit was conducted, clinical incidents and root-cause analysis revealed that the TM/PTWR documentation were suboptimal.