Post-fracture osteoporosis care: A quality improvement project

Osteoporosis is a chronic, progressive disease with potentially devastating complications. Unfortunately, patients often suffer a low trauma or fragility fracture without even knowing they have osteoporosis. Prevention of future fractures then becomes an important aspect of acute care, which includes patient education, further screening, and communication with family physicians. This article describes a quality improvement project implemented by a clinical nurse specialist in the area of follow-up care for osteoporosis in the post-operative low trauma/fragility fracture population.