Need answer about femur fracture...recovery period?

[SarasotaRN2b]

My grandmother (~92 y/o and lives in Germany) fell and fractured the neck of her femur; I was wondering what kind of recovery time does that involve? She had surgery Tuesday night. She has always been very youthful, acting and looking younger than many 20 years younger than she. According to my stepfather, the length of stay in the hospital will be about 3 weeks and then on to rehab. My mom was actually planning on visiting her this weekend in Germany after a brief visit to Norway to visit friends. It's weird about timing, huh? I'm just glad that she was not alone when she fell.

Thanks in advance,

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Unless they do things in Germany different, I wouldn't think she would stay three weeks in the hospital. Maybe four to seven days, then onto rehab.

At 92, previously healthy active people can have a slow recovery and the chance for complications goes up.

But from your description sounds like she'll be back on her feet in no time. :)

[Kudra]

on my unit, the usual stay is 5-7 days for a femur fracture... of course it can be longer but it's because we're waiting for a rehab bed to open up or the patient has had post-op complications... depending on how well they progress in the hospital, they don't even always go to rehab, even if they are older... sometimes we do suggest outpatient physio and arrange homecare services... sometimes the patient doesn't even require that...

beth

[meownsmile, BSN, RN]

Most of our femur fractures/ORIF/knee/hip replacements are out of acute care after the 3rd night post op. They go into rehab and maybe will stay in that unit or a LTC with rehab for 2-3 weeks. Like was said before,, that barring any complications which are common to someone that age.

Good luck i hope she recovers quickly, and fully.