The Hospital Clínic was one of the first Spanish centres to set up an orthogeriatric unit, which was launched 10 years ago at the Villarroel Centre. This allows us to expand on and improve the care for elderly patients with a hip fracture. The orthogeriatric ward is coordinated by Dr. Ferran Massanès, from the Internal Medicine Service and Dr. Pilar Camacho, from the Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology Service.
The ward can hold up to 16 beds and is coordinated jointly by the Geriatrics Section of the Internal Medicine Department and the Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology Department. The new ward is on the 6th floor of the Plató Centre of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona.
The dual approach, from the two disciplines (Geriatrics / Internal Medicine and Traumatology), allows for a multidisciplinary approach, which improves treatment and reduces complications. In fact, the average stay of patients in the new orthogeriatric ward is around 8 days. In the ward, work will also be carried out in coordination with nursing, physiotherapy and social work teams.
One of the priorities of this ward is for patients to recover as much of their functional capacity as quickly as possible. In order to achieve this objective, physiotherapy must be started the day after surgery.
For the heads of the Internal Medicine and Traumatology Departments, Dr. Alfons López Soto and Dr. Pere Torner, the implementation of this new ward will allow us to provide more comprehensive care to very frail patients, who need a holistic, personalized approach to their recovery.
