Osteoporosis Coordinator for Low Volume Community Hospitals

Summary

A Regional Osteoporosis Coordinator located at Women's College Hospital will follow-up with low trauma fracture patients from 30 smaller community hospitals across Ontario. To evaluate whether this quality improvement program can increase post-fracture osteoporosis care in these individuals, hospitals will be randomized to receive osteoporosis specific recommendations or falls prevention advice. Patients will be asked to complete two short telephone surveys about their recent fracture, risk factors, osteoporosis knowledge and diagnostic and treatment history. All patients in the falls prevention advice group will receive the osteoporosis specific recommendations 6 months after their fracture.

Conditions

• Osteoporosis
• Fragility Fractures

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

centralized osteoporosis coordinator

The regional osteoporosis coordinator will phone fracture patients and counsel them about their risk of osteoporosis, reiterating messages in the print material. The coordinator will also follow-up with family physicians by phone and send them a patient-specific reminder that informs them that their patient has experienced a fracture and they are at high risk for future fracture. As part of the reminder, a set of evidence-based recommendations about appropriate BMD testing and treatment based on the recent Canadian guidelines will be included. If the patient does not have a family physician, the regional osteoporosis coordinator will facilitate referral to the MOP.

BEHAVIORAL

fall prevention

Fracture patients from hospitals receiving falls prevention advice will also be called by the osteoporosis regional coordinator. The patient will receive educational material and telephone counseling regarding fall prevention. During the call, patients will be encouraged to visit their family physician for fracture follow-up. They will not receive counseling or educational materials about osteoporosis at this time. Patients in the falls prevention group will receive the physician and patient osteoporosis program six months post-fracture.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care

  lead OTHER_GOV

Principal Investigators

• Susan B Jaglal PhD · Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University of Toronto

• Oana S Donescu MD PhD · Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University of Toronto

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SCREENING

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

40 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2007-06-30

Completion

2008-12-31

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations