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Volume 4 Issue 6 (November - December, 2016)

Original Articles

EFFECT OF A SPECIAL ORTHOPEDIC TRAUMA ROOM ON THE MORBIDITY OF PATIENTS OVER A ONE MONTH PERIOD
Ankur das, Saurabh Agarwal

Background: Hip fractures are a relatively common occurrence in the elderly population and pose a substantial financial burden on the health care system. Hip fractures are usually given a higher priority than other orthopaedic surgical conditions, with a target time to surgery within 48 hours of admission. In spite of all such provisions and utmost care, patients still suffer due to higher incidence of trauma as such among Indian population. The impact of a special orthopaedic trauma room on the morbidity of such patients has been previously supported by many. However, it’s the impact in an Indian scenario has still not been assessed. Methods: Trauma patients admitted in the last 3 years were identified through the trauma register, representing the 2 years before and 1 year after the opening of the orthopedic trauma room. Type of fracture, mode of fixation, age, sex, Length of stay (LOS), American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score, time to operating room (OR),  and one month mortality was documented. Results: The study included 350 patients (207 pre- and 143 post–trauma room opening). Mean LOS decreased from 12.6 to 8.5 days (p = 0.02) and there was a decrease in mean time to OR from 37.4 to 23.9 hours (p = 0.006). However, no difference was found in the 30-day mortality rate (p = 0.46). The LOS decreased by an average of 4 days following opening of the special trauma room. Conclusion: The special orthopaedic trauma room significantly decreased the LOS and wait times to surgery. Further analysis would be needed to assess the cost-effectiveness and the long-term outcome of this patient population.
Key words: Hip fracture, orthopaedic trauma.

Corresponding Author: Dr.  Ankur dass,  Department of Orthopaedics, Mayo Institute of Medical Sciences Barabanki, U.P. , India

 

This article may be cited as: Das A,  Agarwal S. Effect of a special orthopedic trauma room on the morbidity of patients over a one month period. J Adv Med Dent Scie Res 2016;4(6):26-27.

 
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