Grant: Project Grant

Hip fractures occur nearly twice as often for older adults residing in long-term care as they do in older adults of a similar age still living in other settings. Hip fractures are the leading cause of hospitalization and often result in loss of independence, problems with walking and sometimes death. To address this problem our team has designed the PREVENT program for use in long-term care homes. PREVENT uses a tool ("fracture risk calculator") based on a residents electronic health record to capture who is most at risk of fracture due to osteoporosis and falls. The program then trains the health care team including doctors, pharmacists and nurses on the latest recommendations on how to best assist residents and their families in making treatment decisions. The healthcare teams are also given tools that help them stay on track such as templates for ordering medications, strategies to reduce falls and fractures and making care plans. Our study will examine if this program is effective for decreasing hip fractures by assigning some homes to receive the PREVENT program (intervention group) and some homes to usual care (control group) and comparing the results. Our study team includes scientists, health care providers and family and resident councils who will also consult with front-line long-term care workers to design and carry out the study. If successful, the strategies from the PREVENT trial can be widely implemented across Canada and internationally with potential life saving and health care cost-saving implications.