September 30, 2021 — In celebration of its 50th founding year, the UP-PGH Department of Orthopedics, together with the Fragility Fracture Network (FFN) Regionalization Committee and FFN Hip Fracture Audit Special Interest Group, recently hosted the 2nd Asia-Pacific Virtual Pocket Meeting with the theme, “Developing Workforce in the Asia-Pacific Region in Support of the WHO’s Decade of Healthy Ageing 2021-2030.”
Dr. Ellewellyn Pasion, past chair of the Department and member of the Senior Advisory Group FFN Philippines, stated that the webinar aimed to improve clinical outcomes for elderly patients with fragility fractures. National FFN leaders from the Asia-Pacific region presented their respective hip fracture registry experiences followed by a panel discussion on how to further improve and utilize the collective data on hip fracture registries.
Dr. Irewin Tabu, FFN Philippines Chair, enumerated the established national FFNs in the world, namely: Japan, India, China, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Pakistan, Hong Kong SAR, Brazil, Lebanon, Greece, Norway, Italy, UK, and Russia. He expressed hope that the webinar will encourage other countries to establish their own national FFN. He also appealed for support geared towards promoting multidisciplinary orthogeriatric care for the elderly. He also encouraged the establishment of orthogeriatric services/centers worldwide.
Professor Takeshi Sawaguchi, orthopedic surgeon at the Fukushima Medical University Department of Traumatology, presented a case study emphasizing the importance of comprehensive patient evaluation, effective pain management, and multidisciplinary team management from various fields such as nursing and allied health.
Dr. Matt Costa, Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Oxford University and FFN-UK Chair, discussed the importance of obtaining high quality data in managing patients with hip fracture while Dr. Anthony Johansen, orthogeriatrician at the University of Wales UK, tackled the use of hip fracture data to improve patient care. Dr. Jaqueline Close, Co-chair of Australia and New Zealand Hip Fracture Registry, presented the Hip Fracture Registry Toolbox that provides a mechanism for hospitals to benchmark the care that they provide against best practice clinical standards.
“With the uncertainties of the pandemic, we continue to push for our advocacy for the Orthogeriatrics Fracture Liaison Service (FLS) program in the Philippines. Hopefully, both applications for continued funding and the institutionalization of ortho-geriatrics and FLS pathways of care will be approved,“ stated Dr. Giorgio Delgado, FFN Philippines Asst Secretary and Clinical Associate Professor of the PGH Department of Orthopedics. He shared that the Philippine FLS Core Group of PGH has just started a multicenter research project that aims to collect data and introduce and promote orthogeriatrics and secondary fracture prevention competencies among the participating 12 hospitals.
“Fragility fracture is a very big problem and only through a unified and concerted effort will we be able to make a difference,” Dr. Juanito Javier, PGH Department of Orthopedics Chair said. He added that this virtual meeting signals the setting up of a National Hip Fracture Registry in the country.
Charmaine A. Lingdas
Featured in UP Manila Healthscape Special COVID-19 Issue No. 31 (Sept. 2021)
