THE DEVELOPMENT AND BENEFITS OF NURSING PROTOCOLS FOR FRACTURED NECK OF FEMUR PATIENTS

In this article the authors discuss the development, use and auditing of nursing care protocols, which have been implemented and form a guid e for nurses eating for patients with fractured neck of femur in South end Health Care NHS Trust, The development of these protocols occurred after an initial medical audit, which was followed by a far larger mu ltidisciplinary audit, and both of these revealed there was need for c hanges in the clinical management of such patients, subsequently a lar ge multidisciplinary working group worked together to develop care pro tocols/pathways to enable closure of the audit loop. The reasons for f ocusing on fractured neck of femur as a high priority condition are al so discussed, All professional groups caring for these patients were i nvolved in the multidisciplinary working group, which was formed to cl ose the audit loop and to improve clinical practices by increasing the systemization and coordination of care, The development of the nursin g protocols represented an extremely important part of this process, a nd the care of about 700 patients was examined during this work. The a udit and associated subsequent work have resulted in direct improvemen ts to both patient care and health outcomes, and the authors conclude that there is great value in developing multidisciplinary protocols, p articularly those involving nurses, because they spend more time with patients whilst they are in hospital than any other professional group , The benefits of these nursing protocols have been multifold, in part icular they have facilitated a clearer Bow of patients through the hos pital, increased awareness of responsibilities and reduced duplication of effort, and ensured patients receive the best possible care over t he 24-hour period.