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Introduction: An aging population in developed countries has increased the number of osteoporotic hip fractures and will continue to grow over the next decades. Previous studies have investigated the effect of integrated orthogeriatric trauma units and care model on outcomes of hip fracture patients. Although all of the models perform better than usual care, there is no conclusive evidence which care model is superior. More confirmative studies reporting the efficacy of orthogeriatric trauma units are needed. The objective of this study was to evaluate outcomes of hip fracture patients admitted to the hospital before and after implementation of an orthogeriatric trauma unit. Materials and methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted at a level 2 trauma center between 2016 and 2018. Patients aged 70 years or older with a hip fracture undergoing surgery were included to evaluate the implementation of an orthogeriatric trauma unit. The main outcomes were postoperative complications, patient mortality, time spent at the emergency department, time to surgery, and hospital length of stay. Results: A total of 806 patients were included. After implementation of the orthogeriatric trauma unit, there was a significant decrease in postoperative complications (42% vs. 49% in the historical cohort, p = 0.034), and turnaround time at the emergency department was reduced by 38 minutes. Additionally, there was significantly less missing data after implementation of the orthogeriatric trauma unit. After correcting for covariates, patients in the orthogeriatric trauma unit cohort had a lower chance of complications (OR 0.654, 95% CI 0.471-0.908, p = 0.011) and a lower chance of 1-year mortality (OR 0.656, 95% CI 0.450-0.957, p = 0.029). Conclusions: This study showed that implementation of an orthogeriatric trauma unit leads to a decrease in postoperative complications, 1-year mortality, and time spent at the emergency department, while also improving the quality of data registration for clinical studies. Level of Evidence: Level III.

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Purpose Hip fractures are a common health problem among the elderly with an increasing incidence. They are associated with high mortality and morbidity. Optimal pain management remains challenging and inadequate pain control is known for negatively affecting outcomes. Loco-regional anaesthetics (LRA) have been proven to benefit pain management and to lower the risks of opioid use and -related side effects. We aimed to evaluate the use and efficacy of different LRA in elderly hip fracture patients. Methods Single-center cohort study of elderly hip fracture patients, who were treated in central Switzerland. We compared patients who received LRA in the form of a femoral nerve block (FNB) or a continuous femoral nerve catheter (CFNC) with patients who did not receive LRA. Primary outcomes were pain—as measured in perioperative morphine use—hospital length of stay (HLOS), postoperative complications, postoperative falls and mortality. Results 407 patients were included for analysis. Mean age was 85.2 (SD6.3). There was a significant difference in intraoperative morphine use between the groups (p = 0.007). Postoperative morphine use differed significantly and was lowest in patients with FNB and highest in patients without LRA (p < 0.001). The use of LRA was a significant predictor for postoperative morphine use for postoperative morphine use at the recovery room and for postoperative morphine use 48 h after surgery. No significant differences were found in postoperative complications, a significant difference was found in 1-year mortality. Conclusions This article shows that LRA in the form of FNB and CFNC causes a significant decrease in postoperative opioid consumption. Differences between single-shot FNB or CFNC were minimal. There were no significant differences in clinical outcomes such as HLOS, delirium, 30-day and 90-day mortality and postoperative falls. We suggest that use of LRA should be incorporated in the perioperative treatment of elderly patients with a hip fracture. For future research, we recommend evaluating the number of postoperative complications and mortality.