Question for you...please help!

[studentnurserachel]

I have clinical tomorrow and my patient is having a compression screw fixation surgery for a hip fracture late tonight. The doctor's postop orders were not on the chart yet and I'm wondering what I can expect. Will the patient be on bedrest? Will he be in traction (if so what type)? I haven't found anything concrete on the internet about the 1st day postop for a hip fx surgery, some websites seem to suggest that PT and wt. bearing begins almost immediately, but I can't find a timeframe. Please help! Thanks in advance.

[suzanne4, RN]

Traction is only done before the surgery to keep the fracture stable. Ambulation is going to also have to depend on what shape that your patient was in before the surgery and fracture. Without knowing more about the patient it would be hard to give you specifics.

They will have IV fluids running, more than likely will have antibiotoics for 24 hours, diet will also depend on the patient. Many will have a foley catheter as a spinal anesthesia is usually used in the OR.

Hope that this helps................

[barefootlady, ADN, RN]

Surgical wound care, pain meds, bowel regieme, foot care and measures to prevent foot drop, foley catheter care, low residue diet depending on other illness present, evaluations of orientation to r/o stroke prior or during procedure, circulation checks are certainly needed. Safety measures are a special teaching need too. Hope this helps. Remember, recovery starts as soon as the patient is awake and responsive, even confused patients can learn.