Patients with hip fracture, including those with dementia, who received femoral nerve block had lower pain scores and required less opioids before surgery compared with those receiving conventional pain management. Femoral nerve block seems to be a feasible pain treatment for elderly people, including those with dementia.

Introduction: Patients with hip fracture often suffer complications leading to increased mortality and morbidity. Pain management are important, but opioids has many side effects. The aim of this study was to investigate whether Femoral Nerve Block (FNB) can reduce complications during hospital stay, with special focus on delirium compared to conventional pain management with opioids among patients with hip fracture, including those with dementia.Patients & Methods: In a randomized controlled trial involving patients > 70 years with hip fracture (trochanteric and cervical), including those with dementia. Preoperatively, patients (n = 236) were consecutively assigned to receive FNB and opioids if required (intervention group, n = 116) or conventional pain management using opioids if required (control group, n = 120). Delirium was set according to different assessments and DSM-IV-TR criteria. Other complications were set by a specialist in geriatric medicine and a trained research nurse according to a predefined protocol.Results: Most patients, 157 (66%), were women, mean age was 84 ( ±6.7) years and 109 (46%) patients had dementia disorders. Forty-four patients (38.9%) developed delirium preoperatively in the intervention group compared to 59 (49.2%) patients in the control group ( p = 0.116 ). Common postoperative complications were pre-and postoperative delirium, nutritional problems, anaemia, constipation and urinary tract infection with no significant difference between the groups. In the subgroup analysis among patients with dementia, a large proportion developed delirium postoperative (96.3%) and they had a long duration of delirium during hospital stay (5.9 ±1.8), however no difference between the groups. Conclusion:Despite less preoperative pain and need of opioids, FNB did not reduce the incidence of complications. However, a preoperative FNB may result in less preoperative delirium, but this should be further investigated. As pain treatment, FNB is a good alternative with few documented adverse effects in order to reduce pain and opioids among patients with hip fracture.

Introduction Among older adults, hip fracture is a common and serious consequence of a fall. Preoperative pain is common and often severe among patients with hip fracture. Opioids are usually used but have many side effects. One alternative is a femoral nerve block, which has been shown to reduce pain and lower the need for opioids. However, to our knowledge no study has explored qualitatively how patients with hip fracture experience treatment with femoral nerve block. Objective The aim of this study was to explore experiences of preoperative pain and pain management among older patients with hip fracture who had received a femoral nerve block. Method A qualitative design with semi-structured interviews (n = 23) conducted 2–6 days after surgery. Inclusion criteria were Swedish-speaking patients aged 70 years or older with hip fracture admitted to the orthopedic ward, treated with femoral nerve block before nursing actions. Data were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Results Our result revealed one theme, hovering between heaven and hell, with five subthemes: how the pain was described – no pain, to worst pain and everything in between; they were dealing with pain in their own way; felt dependent on staff´s willingness to relieve pain; pain management could be lifesaving and a near-death experience; and how they experienced memory loss with respect to the pain and pain management. Conclusion The experience of pain and pain management was described as hovering between heaven and hell. We conclude that independent of which pain management given, staff should have an individualized pain mangement approach towards the patient in order to achieve well managed pain.

Introduction Hip fractures among older people are common worldwide, and it is often associated with preoperative pain. Due to increased comorbidity and high age, traditional pain relief can be a challenge. An alternative to traditional pain relief is a femoral nerve block, which is safe and suitable for anesthesia and analgesia for hip fractures among patients with or without dementia. It is essential to provide adequate pain management, and nurses report negative attitudes toward opioids and seem to prefer alternative pain management. To our knowledge, no study has focused on staff's experiences of nursing care for patients treated with femoral nerve block. Aim To describe staff's experiences providing nursing care in preoperative pain and pain management to older patients with a hip fracture who received a femoral nerve block. Design A qualitative exploratory design. Method Semistructured interviews with 19 nurses or assistant nurses in an orthopedic ward or emergency department. They were experienced in caring for patients with hip fractures who received treatment with a femoral nerve block. The interviews were subjected to qualitative content analysis. Results Staff described the femoral nerve block as setting the agenda when caring for older patients with hip fractures in the preoperative phase. The outcome of the femoral nerve block affected nursing care, depending on if the femoral nerve block was successful or not. Nursing care requires timing, with a need for staff orienting to time and customizing their communication. Further, staff faced ethical challenges regarding doing good and not harm, relieving pain, and avoiding side effects. Conclusions The femoral nerve block was an important issue for nursing staff in patients with hip fractures in the preoperative phase. Our results point toward the benefits of giving femoral nerve blocks as soon as possible to facilitate nursing care, however, this should be studied in future research.

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