AO Trauma Course—Fracture Care in Older Adults

This course is aimed at General trauma surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, geriatricians, and medicine physicians who want to:

Improve their surgical and medical care of patients with fragility fractures
Make improvements in their hospital's and department's approach to fracture care in older adults

Participants should be actively involved in fragility fracture care. In addition, surgeon participants should have completed the AO Trauma Courses—Basic Principles and Advanced Principles of Fracture Management.

Participants will learn how the overall care of the fragility fracture patient can be substantially improved. Since the fracture represents only one aspect, orthogeriatric comanagement of the patient from admission to completion of rehabilitation is the optimal approach. This course delivers the latest evidence as well as practical details on the comprehensive management of fragility fractures in older adults, with the aim of changing attitudes and improving the care of this patient group.

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Why you should choose this course

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Course content

Course modules
Module 1: Preoperative phase

Lectures:

Principles of comanaged care

Comorbidity and preoperative optimization

Functional status, treatment goals, and prognosis

Anticoagulation

Module 2: Operative phase – Day 1

Lectures:

Regional versus general anesthesia–does it matter?

Bleeding (optional)

Case Based discussions:

Upper extremity

Proximal humerus

Around the elbow

Around the wrist

Lower extremity

Femoral neck fractures and per-/subtrochanteric fractures

Pelvis and acetabulum

Periprosthetic femur fractures

Fractures around the knee and ankle

Principles, typical failures, and solutions

Sarcopenia, frailty, and nutrition

Pain medication: Pre and postoperative

Atypical fractures

Module 3: Operative phase

Lectures:

Full weight bearing

Postoperative medical management

Evaluation and management of falls

Secondary fracture prevention–case

Osteoporosis management–treatment algorithm

Delirium

Module 4: Orthogeriatric co-management

How to involve your team (what elements do you need and how do you create the optimal team) – stress importance of communication, etc

What is necessary for efficient smooth implementation (protocols, etc)?

How to convince your hospital management (resources and to pay for it)?
Practical exercises
Femoral nail with augmentation

Periprosthetic fracture fixation

Course details may be subject to change. Please check your chosen date and location for the detailed program.

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Target audience

Practicing surgeons in orthopedic trauma, orthopedics, and general trauma
Geriatricians and other medicine physicians (eg, internal medicine, anesthesiology)
Residents/trainees (surgical and medical)

Course impressions

Competencies

The education taskforce has identified the following competencies for this area of practice:

Correctly fix fragility fractures as indicated
Adapt treatment in line with aging
Recognize comorbidities and polypharmacy
Prevent, identify, and treat complications
Address secondary prevention (osteoporosis, falls)
Restore function early
Apply the basic science of fixation and bone biology
Initiate and comanage patient care with the healthcare team
Build a system of care for fragility fractures
Seek to restore and preserve functionality, independence, and quality of life

What does competency-based curriculum development mean?

Resources

Orthogeriatrics education taskforce

The Orthogeriatrics education taskforce is a group of experts who build and continuously improve our educational program. It consists of three international program editors (IPEs).

See a full list of all regional program contributors and past international program editors.