The Dutch Hip Fracture Audit: evaluation of the quality of multidisciplinary hip fracture care in the Netherlands

Summary The nationwide Dutch Hip Fracture Audit (DHFA) is initiated to improve the quality of hip fracture care by providing
insight into the actual quality of hip fracture care in daily practice. The baseline results demonstrate variance in practice,
providing potential starting points to improve the quality of care.
Purpose The aim of this study is to describe the development and initiation of the DHFA. The secondary aim is to describe the hip
fracture care in the Netherlands at the start of the audit and to assess whether there are differences in processes at baseline between
hospitals.
Methods Eighty-one hospitals were asked to register their consecutive hip fracture patients since April 2016. In 2017, the first
full calendar year, the case ascertainment was determined at audit level. Three quality indicators were used to describe and assess
the care process at audit and hospital level: the proportion of completed variables at discharge and at 3 months after operation,
time to surgery and orthogeriatric management.
Results Sixty (74%) hospitals documented 14,274 patients in the DHFA by December 2017. In 2017, the case ascertainment was
58% and the average proportion of completed variables was 77%: 91% at discharge and 30% at 3 months. The median time to
operation was 18 h (IQR 7–23) for American Society of Anesthesiologists score (ASA) 1–2 patients and 21 h (IQR 13–27) for
ASA 3–4 patients. Of patients aged 70 years and older, 78% received orthogeriatric management. At hospital level, all three
indicators showed significant practice variance.
Conclusion Not all hospitals participate in the DHFA, and the data gathering process needs to be further optimized. However, the
baseline results demonstrate an apparent variance in hip fracture practice between hospitals in the Netherlands, providing
potential starting points to improve the quality of hip fracture care.