Abstract
Introduction:
NICE guidelines state that assessment of osteoporosis risk is a part of multifactorial fall assessment in older people who present with a fall (NICE clinical guidelines: fall in older people, June 2013). This audit was conducted to examine and improve our practice in assessing osteoporosis risk in patients admitted with fall to Care of Elderly department.
Method:
FRAX or QFracture are the recommended tools to evaluate the risk of osteoporosis and future fragility fracture. We have checked if any of these assessment tools has been used in patients who were admitted with a diagnosis of fall.
Results:
Baseline data was collected for 30 random patients admitted between 1st January 2022 – 31st March 2022, it showed only in 3.3% the assessment tool (FRAX/QFracture) was used. Following attempts to improve the practice by increasing the awareness of the importance of using FRAX/QFracture tools (lecture presentation and email reminders), a significant improvement has been achieved in cycle 2 which checked 21 random patients between 1st June 2022 and 15th August 2022. This showed 48% of patients have documented risk of osteoporosis and future fragility fracture checked with an assessment tool (FRAX was the tool used in all patients). As a result, osteoporosis treatment was started in 9.8%, DXA scan was requested in 4.8% and only life style advice was given to 33.6% of all fall patients included in cycle 2.
Conclusion:
A significant improvement in using the assessment tools (FRAX/Qfracture) in fall patients has been achieved. With continuing to implement the same measures (educating doctors and sending reminders), we are expecting a better result in the future.