A comparison between two co-managed geriatric programmes for hip fractured elderly patients

background and aims: Hip fracture in older people is an event associated with a high incidence of morbidity and mortality. In this study we compared the clinical outcomes of two groups of orthogeriatric patients belonging to orthogeriatric care (OC) programme. The OC course, developed into the Geriatric Ward, starts from the Emergency Department (OC-1, n=174), or from the Orthopaedic Department after surgery (OC-2, n=87). Methods: For this purpose, OC pateints were prospectively enrolled from March 2007 to June 2009 following OC criteria: Door-to-bed time, time to surgery, mobilisation time, lenght of sty, and post-operative complications were compared between the Oc groups. Results: The OC-1 patients differ from OC-2 ones only for residence at admission (14.4% vs 4.6% lived in nursing home, P=0.02). Concerning the outcomes, in the OC-1 group only mobilisation time is significantly lowe (P=0.01). No differences were observed in the post-operative vomplications. Conclusions: In frail older people, hip fracture co-management, with the geriatrician as primary atendant leads to satisfying outcomes. The OC-1 and OC-2 course exhibit similar clinical results. An improvement in several organisation's aspects, including the coordination between hospital and rehabilitation service, is warranted.