Advertisement for orthosearch.org.uk
Orthopaedic Proceedings Logo

Receive monthly Table of Contents alerts from Orthopaedic Proceedings

Comprehensive article alerts can be set up and managed through your account settings

View my account settings

Visit Orthopaedic Proceedings at:

Loading...

Loading...

Full Access

General Orthopaedics

A study assessing whether patients can correctly identify the surgical procedure undergone after hip fracture surgery and the effectiveness of their informed consent

British Orthopaedic Association/Irish Orthopaedic Association Annual Congress (BOA/IOA)



Abstract

Background

Despite studies into patient consent and their understanding of the potential risks of trauma surgery, no study has looked at the patient's understanding of the procedure involved with neck of femur fracture surgery.

Method

Prospective analysis of 150 patients who had operative fixation of neck of femur fractures in a district general hospital. Patients were asked on the third post-operative day to select which procedure they had undergone from a diagram of four different neck of femur surgeries (cannulated screws, cephalomedullary nail, dynamic hip screw and hemiarthroplasty). Exclusion criteria for patient selection - mini mental score of < 20 and confusion secondary to delirium.

Results

All patients had signed consent form 1 which was matched to the procedure. All patients were consented by an FP2, CT1 or other SHO. The mean age of patients was 83years. 5% had cannulated screw fixation, 45% had a hemiarthroplasty, 42% had a dynamic hip screw and 8% had a cephalomedullary nail. 47% of patients could correctly identify the procedure they had undergone on the 3rd post-operative day.

Conclusions

This study shows that there are questions about the effectiveness of informed consent and patient understanding of the procedure before and after hip fracture surgery. We suggest that further detailed studies may highlight the need for alternative ways of communicating procedures to the patients or that more specialised training is required for those explaining hip fracture surgery to patients. Improvements in these areas might help ensure the true informed consent required.