Patients have a low awareness of the risk of osteoporosis fractures
“It ‘possible that ED can not be the best setting to provide patients with educational information on the prevention of fractures and osteoporosis, as they are concerned about both problems more acute pain and comorbidity in a landslide.”“Most orthopedic doctors and ED at our institution has said time and resources were the main obstacles to improving the quality of care for osteoporosis in the community.
Only 40 percent of patients with fragility are aware of the risks – a level that is likely to remain a barrier for patients seeking medical consultation and management of their risks, according to a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Dr. Inderjeeth said that after the implementation of the intervention, the rate of bone mineral densitometry investigations improved from three percent to 45 percent, the number of patients treated with calcium supplementation and an increase of 12 percent to 33 percent and 12 percent to 37 percent, respectively, and the initiation of specific treatment for osteoporosis has increased by six percent to 30 percent.
Dr Inderjeeth said 84 percent of patients with fragile bones clinical submitted to the clinic for osteoporosis after being contacted by a nurse liaison fracture.
The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.
But despite the improvements in these outcome measures, Dr. Inderjeeth said that only a minority of patients were aware of osteoporosis, although most general practitioners and hospital doctors admitted that it was their responsibility to evaluate and treat and inform their patients of their risk of osteoporosis.
Dr. Charles Inderjeeth, Geriatrician and Rheumatologist North Metropolitan Area Health Service, Perth, and co-authors implemented and evaluated a multimodal intervention to improve the treatment of osteoporosis patients discharged from an emergency room (ER) after the presentation of a fragility fracture.
