Mrs Jones, a lady in her seventies, was admitted to Shaugh ward having fallen at home and sustaining a fracture to the shaft of her left femur. She had previously lived alone at  home and led a full and active life in the local community, with the church activities keeping her busy. Mrs Jones arrived in the middle of the night in September to Accident and Emergency following the fall at home. She had tripped over her living room rug.

She was in great pain and very frightened when the ambulance men came to take her to Derriford Hospital, and this was not alleviated on arrival to Accident and Emergency with all the hustle and bustle going on around the department. By the time she had been brought to the orthopaedic ward she was in a state of high anxiety and terrified of being moved as this increased her pain.

It took time to gain her confidence enough to be able to transfer onto the bed and make her limb comfortable. It transpired she had never been in hospital before and was worried about everything from the milk in her fridge, her church duties and the people she was letting down, to who was going to keep an eye on her elderly neighbour whilst she was in hospital.

Mrs Jones was made comfortable in skin traction – which helps align the broken bone and ease the pain; she was also given  medication to relieve her pain.  Despite her pain, she was a very friendly and chatty lady – she clearly  had everyone else’s interest at heart and had obviously been a great support to many in her community and now here she was thinking that she was going to be a burden on all her friends. She showed great concern to all her fellow patients during her stay. She had her surgery on the second day of her stay - it is important to undertake surgery as soon as possible following injury, to reduce both the complications of the injury and surgery itself. 

The orthopaedic wards have a care pathway  which defines different care and rehabilitation following surgery which ensures that the multi-disciplinary team all focus on the same elements of recovery each day and review the patient according to their recovery on a daily basis.  It includes assessment  and preventative measures for complications of surgery –  looking at promoting healing, nutrition, skin integrity and reducing infection, pain, thromboembolism and disability. This helps to make sure that recovery is as planned and as full as possible.

Mrs Jones’ recovery went smoothly and she  progressed well through the orthopaedic pathway of care  over the next few days - with  physiotherapy, occupational therapy, blood tests and X-rays that form part of the usual journey through the orthopaedic system! She was taught how to walk with crutches, advised about her wound care and pain relief and assessed with regards to her independence with activities of daily living.

By day eight, she was well enough to be able to go home and in fact was very determined to do just that.  This is no mean feat when you are someone in your seventies who lives alone.  However, with the support of the Occupational Therapist  who gave advice and equipment for managing at home and along with help from supportive friends she was able to go home. When we last heard, Mrs Jones was back on her rounds of church activities and being an active member of the community.