Anaesthesia for hip fracture: A survey of Scottish practice

A postal survey of all senior anaesthetists with routine commitment to an a cute trauma list in 13 Scottish hospitals was conducted to delineate contem porary anaesthetic practice for hip fracture surgery. Almost equal use of g eneral and regional anaesthesia was reported, however the techniques used f or general anaesthesia were different from those described in previous lite rature in this group. The recently released Scottish Intercollegiate Guidel ines Network (SIGN) guidelines for the management of elderly people with fr actured hip state that seniority of anaesthetist is important for improved outcome hut there is no difference between either general or regional anaes thesia. However these conclusions relate to techniques and drugs which are now rarely used during general anaesthesia for hip fracture surgery. Furthe r work to assess the impact of new techniques and agents on outcome for thi s group of patients may be required.