Is de oudere patiënt met heupfractuur beter af door multidisciplinaire behandeling?

Integrated orthogeriatric treatment, led by a nurse practitioner, is an important step forward in the improvement of care for older people with a hip fracture. In this paper we reflect on the study of Van Leendert et al. Their main findings are similar to the literature with a significantly reduced 1-year mortality rate in the orthogeriatric group compared to the standard care group. However, there are some remarks to be made regarding the patient characteristics that are unbalanced in favor of the orthogeriatric group, with an overrepresentation of a certain type of fracture, indicating potentially more vulnerable patients in the standard care group. Although a significant step forward, we also address that still face major challenges, that technology might be an enabler for further improvement but that it might also be time to introduce a new perspective on recovery that makes better use of the dynamics of the system.

Conflict of interest and financial support: none declared.