HIP fracture Supplemental Therapy to Enhance Recovery (HIPSTER): a protocol for a randomised controlled trial

INTRODUCTION

Hip fractures result in substantial health impacts for patients and costs to health systems. Many patients require prolonged hospital stays and up to 60% do not regain their prefracture level of mobility within 1 year. Physical rehabilitation plays a key role in regaining physical function and independence; however, there are no recommendations regarding the optimal intensity. This study aims to compare the clinical efficacy and cost-effectiveness of early intensive in-hospital physiotherapy compared with usual care in patients who have had surgery following a hip fracture.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

This two-arm randomised, controlled, assessor-blinded trial will recruit 620 participants who have had surgery following a hip fracture from eight hospitals. Participants will be randomised 1:1 to receive usual care (physiotherapy according to usual practice at the site) or intensive physiotherapy in the hospital over the first 7 days following surgery (two additional sessions per day, one delivered by a physiotherapist and the other by an allied health assistant). The primary outcome is the total hospital length of stay, measured from the date of hospital admission to the date of hospital discharge, including both acute and subacute hospital days. Secondary outcomes are functional mobility, health-related quality of life, concerns about falling, discharge destination, proportion of patients remaining in hospital at 30 days, return to preadmission mobility and residence at 120 days and adverse events. Twelve months of follow-up will capture data on healthcare utilisation. A cost-effectiveness evaluation will be undertaken, and a process evaluation will document barriers and facilitators to implementation.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

The Alfred Hospital Ethics Committee has approved this protocol. The trial findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals, submitted for presentation at conferences and disseminated to patients and carers.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

ACTRN12622001442796.

Nursing interventions and activities for patients with multiple traumas: An integrative review

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to identify nursing interventions and activities for patients with multiple traumas who have variations in physical mobility.

METHODS

We used integrative literature review following Whittemore and Knafl method and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses' guidelines and adopting the Oxford Center for Evidence-Based Classification Medicine - Levels of Evidence. The data collection was carried out between October and December 2019 and updated in May 2022, in the following databases: Virtual Health Library, Cochrane Library, Excerpta Medica dataBASE, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, PubMed®, SciVerse Scopus, The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and Web of Science.

FINDINGS

There were 103 articles to be fully read and evaluated. From these, 34 publications were selected. Most nursing interventions and activities identified were placed in the NIC class Activity and Exercise Management in the Physiological: Basic domain, which has interventions to organize or to assist with physical activity, energy conservation, and expenditure; followed by Elimination Management (interventions to establish and maintain regular bowel and urinary elimination patterns and manage complications due to altered patterns); Immobility Management (interventions to manage restricted body movement and the sequelae); Nutrition Support (interventions to modify or maintain nutritional status); Physical Comfort Promotion (interventions to promote comfort using physical techniques); and Self-Care Facilitation (interventions to provide or assist with routine activities of daily living).

CONCLUSIONS

The interventions and nursing activities found in this research were not only related to the change in mobility in victims of multiple traumas but also aimed to prevent the consequences of immobility and to take care of already established conditions.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE NURSING PRACTICE

This research enables the taxonomy's development and the validation of interventions for selected groups of patients. This allows the contribution to the development of the NIC-an important resource to improve nursing practice in teaching, research, and care.

Monitoring independence in daily life activities after trauma in humanitarian settings: Item reduction and assessment of content validity of the Activity Independence Measure-Trauma (AIM-T)

A standardized set of measures to assess functioning after trauma in humanitarian settings has been called for. The Activity Independence Measure for Trauma (AIM-T) is a clinician-rated measure of independence in 20 daily activities among patients after trauma. Designed in Afghanistan, it has since been used in other contexts. Before recommending the AIM-T for wider use, its measurement properties required confirmation. This study aims at item reduction followed by content validity assessment of the AIM-T. Using a two-step revision process, first, routinely collected data from 635 patients at five facilities managing patients after trauma in Haiti, Burundi, Yemen, and Iraq were used for item reduction. This was performed by analyzing inter-item redundancy and distribution of the first version of the AIM-T (AIM-T1) item scores, resulting in a shortened version (AIM-T2). Second, content validity of the AIM-T2 was assessed by item content validity indices (I-CVI, 0-1) based on structured interviews with 23 health care professionals and 60 patients in Haiti, Burundi, and Iraq. Through the analyses, nine pairs of redundant items (r≥0.90) were identified in the AIM-T1, leading to the removal of nine items, and resulting in AIM-T2. All remaining items were judged highly relevant, appropriate, clear, feasible and representative by most of participants (I-CVI>0.5). Ten items with I-CVI 0.5-0.85 were revised to improve their cultural relevance or appropriateness and one item was added, resulting in the AIM-T3. In conclusion, the proposed 12-item AIM-T3 is overall relevant, clear, and representative of independence in daily activity after trauma and it includes items appropriate and feasible to be observed by clinicians across different humanitarian settings. While some additional measurement properties remain to be evaluated, the present version already has the potential to serve as a routine measure to assess patients after trauma in humanitarian settings.

Patient Perspectives on Key Outcomes for Vocational Rehabilitation Interventions Following Traumatic Injury

Returning to work after traumatic injury can have a range of benefits, but there is currently little research that incorporates patient perspectives to identify outcomes of vocational rehabilitation interventions that are important to survivors. Trauma survivors (n = 17) participated in in-depth semi-structured interviews or focus groups exploring outcomes that were important to them for recovery and return to work. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Participants identified a range of outcomes that they considered important and necessary to facilitate a successful and sustainable return to work: physical and psychological recovery, purposeful life engagement, managing expectations of recovery, managing expectations about return to work, and employers’ expectations. Our participants advocated for a multifaceted and biopsychosocial understanding of recovery and outcomes that need to be captured for vocational rehabilitation interventions. Implications for practice and research are discussed, and recommendations are given based on the findings.