Dedicated orthopedic trauma theatres: effect on morbidity and mortality in a single trauma centre.

BACKGROUND A general trend in orthopedic traumatology is the advent of daily, dedicated orthopedic trauma theatres. Availability of trauma theatres is believed to decrease morbidity and mortality, but this remains unproven. We performed a retrospective review comparing morbidity and mortality outcomes at a single institution before and after the establishment of a dedicated trauma room. The purpose was to determine whether a change in outcomes occurred for a single routine procedure with known outcome expectations (hemiarthroplasty of the hip after femoral neck fracture) with the implementation of a designated trauma theatre. METHODS We examined a cohort of 457 elderly patients (245 before and 212 after trauma theatre implementation) who underwent hemiarthroplasty for displaced low-energy subcapital hip fractures. RESULTS Patients in both groups were similar in terms of age, sex ratio and ASA classification. We found statistically significant differences favouring the dedicated trauma room system for postoperative morbidity. Despite this outcome, the average time to surgery for these patients significantly increased. We noted no difference in mortality between the 2 groups. CONCLUSION The hip fracture population can be treated safely in the context of dedicated trauma room time; however, there needs to be prioritization of hip fractures in a tertiary care centre or other trauma cases will tend to take precedence.