Impact of Nurse Practitioners on Hip Fracture Length of Stay

• Extensive reorganization of the orthopedic trauma team was undertaken in 2005 with the addition of Nurse Practitioners (NPs) to coordinate hospital stay and discharge planning.
• Hip fracture patient data was gathered retrospectively by chart review to compare the time periods of 2001-2005 and 2006-2010 (before and after reorganization).
• LOS and days to surgery decreased with the addition of NPs without increasing mortality.
• Although mortality did not change, 2-week hospital return rate increased slightly.

In this study we examined 2,497 hip fracture patients at a large level I trauma center in the midwestern United States during the period 2001-2010. In the fall of 2005, the orthopedic trauma teams underwent extensive reorganization. Nurse practitioners were hired and became responsible for coordinating hospital stays and discharge planning. Data from 2001 to 2005 were compared with data from 2006 to 2010. The comparison data included length of stay, days to surgery, mortality (30 days, 90 days, and 1 year), and 2-week readmission rates. Adding nurse practitioners to the orthopedic trauma team decreased the length of stay by 2.2 days without increasing mortality or readmission rates.