Turning a pt with hip fracture/broken hip

[dixielee323]

I am a student nurse in my first year of nursing school. I was wondering about turning a patient with a hip fracture/broken hip. If they have a right hip fracture and you have to turn them to look at their back, do you roll them to the right (onto the hip) or to the left (off the hip)? It sounds stupid, but I would really appreciate an answer.

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

dixielee323 said:

I am a student nurse in my first year of nursing school. I was wondering about turning a patient with a hip fracture/broken hip. If they have a right hip fracture and you have to turn them to look at their back, do you roll them to the right (onto the hip) or to the left (off the hip)? It sounds stupid, but I would really appreciate an answer.

Never turn a hip fracture patient onto the affected side without specific orders. You can "tip" them a bit, but not onto the hip if it has not been 'fixed'. And, you need to have sufficient pillows-minimum of 2- between the thighs/knees to avoid making the alignment worse and increasing pain/spasms. Do not let the leg (whichever one is affected) adduct or rotate. The pillows will support the affected hip while turning them onto the left hip to check their back. Never turn a hip patient by yourself...always have another person help, who knows how to turn a hip patient. You can also refer to the PT department for positioning tips, and if your facility does this some way besides what I wrote- follow your facility policy ?

[LouisVRN, RN]

I work ortho as well and agree with everything the previous poster said, however just wanted to add that it is extremely important these patients are turned or they will literally lay in one spot from admission until surgery.

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

And one more thing that I must add:

Most of these pts will (hopefully) be in Buck's traction. Please, I beg each of the members reading this post, steer clear of the traction. Just one accidental bump into the weights will send a pt over the edge in pain!

[Twinmom06, ASN, APN]

xtxrn said:

Never turn a hip fracture patient onto the affected side without specific orders. You can "tip" them a bit, but not onto the hip if it has not been 'fixed'. And, you need to have sufficient pillows-minimum of 2- between the thighs/knees to avoid making the alignment worse and increasing pain/spasms. Do not let the leg (whichever one is affected) adduct or rotate. The pillows will support the affected hip while turning them onto the left hip to check their back. Never turn a hip patient by yourself...always have another person help, who knows how to turn a hip patient. You can also refer to the PT department for positioning tips, and if your facility does this some way besides what I wrote- follow your facility policy ?

thanks for the tips - I start clinical tomorrow!

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

canesdukegirl said:

And one more thing that I must add:

Most of these pts will (hopefully) be in Buck's traction. Please, I beg each of the members reading this post, steer clear of the traction. Just one accidental bump into the weights will send a pt over the edge in pain!

And, if the traction weight is on the floor- get someone to reset it ? Don't just pick it up and/or let it swing around