Outcome of patients with a nailed hip fracture requiring rehabilitation in a hospital for chronic care.

Abstract

The rehabilitation outcome of seventy-eight consecutive patients with nailed hip fractures admitted to a hospital for chronic care from an orthopaedic department during 1977 through 1980 was followed for two years. They comprised only 13% of all hip fracture patients, the others being discharged to their own homes or old people's homes. Thirty-four of the admitted patients came originally from their own homes, 23 from old people's homes and the others from hospitals for chronic care. Each had been selected for long-term care by the orthopaedic surgeon and his staff as the likelihood of rehabilitation in his/her original habitat was considered poor. Because of an active rehabilitation at the hospital for chronic care, one-third of the surviving patients were discharged to their own homes or old people's homes within one year after the fracture. Most of these patients came originally from their own homes. Once discharged, the patients did not need to return to the hospital for chronic care.