NSW Health WSLHD Safety & Quality Account 2020-21

Preventing Fractures at Westmead Hospital: Putting Patients First Osteoporotic fractures cause almost 1500 presentations to Westmead Hospital every year. The Westmead Osteoporosis Re-Fracture Prevention (OPR) program was developed in 2019 to screen patients with a minimal-trauma fracture for osteoporosis prior to discharge. The aim was to screen for osteoporosis to identify it early and provide treatment in the Westmead community, including patients own homes. This strategy would reduce the change of re-fractures and thus reduce hospital presentations. Prior to the OPR program, less than 15% of patients were screened for osteoporosis. Since June 2019, the ORP program has screened 3500 patients with fractures and seen a reduction in re-presentation for patients with fractures.

The program has successfully reduced the rate of fracture re-representations at Westmead by: • Partnering with existing services including the fracture team and Integrated & Community Health to develop home-based treatment options. • Developed personalised management plans within a multidisciplinary team to provide holistic management approaches. • Developed an eMR solution to automate a fracture screening tool to identity patients with fractures quickly. • Used patient-reported measures to develop a patient-centered approach in empowering patients to optimise their musculoskeletal health.

Clockwise from top left: Westmead registered nurse Troy. Dr Neha Mahajan (Medical Officer), Melanie S. (NUM). Dr Ziad Basyouny providing care to a patient of Hospital in the Home. Westmead Hospital emergency department staff specialist Dr Kavita Varshney with scrub caps donated by the Tzu Chi Eastwood Buddhist Association.

Safety & Quality Account 2022-2023 Western Sydney Local Health District

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