Better ways of pain management in adults with hip fractures

Grant ID: EMPJ-225R31-2019-HOOPER

Project Summary

Hip fractures are extremely painful yet medications which are usually used to manage the pain can have significant complications, particularly in frail individuals. Numbing medications injected into the groin on the side of the hip fracture have been shown to decrease pain, confusion and chest infections in patients with hip fracture awaiting an operation.

It is usual for most patients presenting to emergency departments with a hip fracture to get a single injection of numbing medication. What isn’t known is whether multiple regular doses of numbing medications injected regularly via a plastic tube in the groin are more effective than a single injection in managing the pain of hip fractures.
The purpose of this study is to show multiple regular doses of numbing medications are better than a single injection. This will be achieved by examining the difference in the amount of pain, the quantity of pain medications, and the degree of confusion between the patients getting multiple doses and those getting a single injection.

This study will be the first of its kind to be done in an emergency department and is also unique in that it will involve patients with dementia who make up more than a third of patients with hip fracture and are usually excluded from studies. The study is expected to help manage the pain of the 1.6 million hip fracture patients worldwide and give emergency doctors an additional option of managing hip fracture pain.


Leveraged Funds

- Townsville HHS Study, education, and research trust account (SERTA), 2019, $50,000


SHARE

Amount Awarded
$82,872


Program


Grant Scheme


Status
Complete


Principal Investigator:
Dr Kate Hooper


Co Investigators:
Dr Michael Polischuk
Dr Vinay Gangathimmaiah
Dr Jeremy Furyk
Dr Georgia Livesay


Associate Investigators:
Dr Mark Fairley
Dr Theophilus Emeto
Dr Jonathon de Hoog


Institution


Collaborating Institutions


CONTACT US +61 7 3112 8668 info@emfoundation.org.au Suite 1A 34 Sherwood Road Toowong, Qld 4066