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AIMS: Our aim, using English Hospital Episode Statistics data before during and after the Distal Radius Acute Fracture Fixation Trial (DRAFFT), was to assess whether the results of the trial affected clinical practice. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data were grouped into six month intervals from July 2005 to December 2014. All patient episodes in the National Health Service involving emergency surgery for an isolated distal radial fracture were included. RESULTS: Clinical practice in England had not changed in the five years before DRAFFT: 75% of patients were treated with plate fixation versus 12% with Kirschner (K)-wires. After the publication of the trial, the proportion of patients having K-wire fixation rose to 42% with a concurrent fall in the proportion having fixation with a plate to 48%. The proportion of 'other' procedures stayed the same. TAKE HOME MESSAGE: It appears that surgeons in the United Kingdom do change their practice in response to large, pragmatic, multicentre clinical trials in musculoskeletal trauma.

Original publication

DOI

10.1302/0301-620X.98B3.36730

Type

Journal article

Journal

Bone joint j

Publication Date

03/2016

Volume

98-B

Pages

410 - 413

Keywords

Clinical trial, change in practice, distal radius fracture, Bone Plates, Bone Wires, Diffusion of Innovation, England, Fracture Fixation, Internal, Health Services Research, Humans, Pragmatic Clinical Trials as Topic, Professional Practice, Radius Fractures, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Wrist Injuries