Fracture clinic redesign: improving standards in patient care and interprofessional education.

Introduction: Current fracture clinic models, especially with the advent of reductions in junior doctors' hours, may limit outpatient trainee education and patient care. We have designed a new fracture clinic model, involving an initial consultant-led case review focused on patient management and trainee education.

Methods: Prospective outcomes for all new patients attending the redesigned fracture clinic over a 3-week period in 2010 (n = 240) were compared with a historical cohort from the same period in 2009 (n = 296).

Improving patient flow: the impact of consultant work pattern on trauma ward efficiency.

Objective: To determine the effect on trauma ward efficiency of altering consultant shift patterns.

Design: Outcome measures were compared for neck of femur fracture patients before and after the consultant rota changed (Feb 2007) from a single day on-call to a full week on-call.

Setting: Patients admitted to Stirling Royal Infirmary with neck of femur fractures.

Modic vertebral body changes: the natural history as assessed by consecutive magnetic resonance imaging.

Study Design: Changes in the vertebral body adjacent to the end plate may be associated with degenerative disc disease. These changes can be separated on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and have been described by Modic. It is assumed that these end plate changes represent a process that is progressive.