[AltersTraumaZentrum DGU®].

Orthopaedic surgeons are faced with a large number of geriatric patients. An ageing society will lead to a significant increase in the number of geriatric patients in orthopaedic trauma units in the future. Due to the significant number of comorbidities an orthogeriatric service seems to be effective during acute care to maintain patients' independency. During the last 2 years the orthopaedic and geriatric medical societies in Germany have developed joint criteria for orthopaedic-geriatric trauma centres. These were evaluated and improved during a pilot certification procedure. The German trauma society (DGU) is now starting the certification procedure AltersTraumaZentrum DGU®. Simultaneously a geriatric trauma registery for hip fractures (AltersTraumaRegister DGU®) is being established in Germany. All certified hospitals will have to participate in the registery. This will allow the participants to benchmark their own results with the data from the registery. Because of the identical core data set comparisons with similar international registeries will also be possible.