A champion-driven pathway towards quality improvement in the medical management of osteoporotic fractures

Lu, Tim Yu-Ting; Pink, Jennifer A; Whitten, Lauren E; Hill, Catherine L; Adams, Robert J; Gibb, Catherine

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2006.tb00595.x

Topics

To the Editor: The Australian Fracture Prevention Summit held in 2002 recognised osteoporosis as a major public health issue. Despite this, several Australian studies have found that a majority of patients with osteoporosis-related fractures do not receive appropriate evaluation and treatment as recommended by the clinical guidelines.1-4

Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide, SA.

Correspondence: mugzy@ozemail.com.au

Acknowledgements:

We would like to thank Mr C Butcher, Head of the Orthopaedic Unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, for his ongoing support of this program. We are grateful for the medication provided by Aventis Pharma.

Competing interests:

Aventis Pharma provided risedronate for the research.

1. Feldstein AC, Nichols GA, Elmer PJ, et al. Older women with fractures: patients falling through the cracks of guideline-recommended osteoporosis screening and treatment. J Bone Joint Surg Am 2003; 85-A: 2294-2302.
2. Freedman KB, Kaplan FS, Bilker WB, et al. Treatment of osteoporosis: are physicians missing an opportunity? J Bone Joint Surg Am 2000; 82-A: 1063-1070.
3. Harrington JT, Broy SB, Derosa AM, et al. Hip fracture patients are not treated for osteoporosis: a call to action. Arthritis Rheum 2002; 47: 651-654.
4. Kamel HK, Hussain MS, Tariq A, et al. Failure to diagnose and treat osteoporosis in elderly patients hospitalized with hip fracture. Am J Med 2000; 109: 326-328.
5. Davidoff F, Batalden P. Toward stronger evidence on quality improvement. Draft publication guidelines: the beginning of a consensus project. Qual Saf Health Care 2005; 14: 319-325.

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