The value of a special surgical team in preventing complications in the treatment of hip fractures.

The incidence of the major complications of operation have been studied prospectively in 1,722 patients with a proximal femoral fracture treated by either insertion of a hemiarthroplasty, internal fixation with a Dynamic Hip Screw (DHS) or multiple parallel screws. Major complications occurred in 8.0%. A special surgical "Hip Fracture Team" reduced the incidence of major complications from 12.5% to 5.0%. The most significant benefit from employment of the special team was in reducing the incidence of wound sepsis and of failure of fixation following the operative management of displaced intracapsular and extracapsular fractures. Assigning hip fracture surgery to designated personell will result in a significant reduction in morbidity.