176 Patient Perception on Fracture Healing

Effective communication skills are an extremely important aspect of good medical practice. Fractures are common with over 1 million fractures occurring each year in the UK; of which 5-10% may have problems with healing. Patient perceptions of factors harmful to the fracture healing process are unknown and our study investigates this. Method A total of 418 responses were collected from participants in a single centre in our survey based study to determine patient perception on factors potentially affecting bone-healing. Results 84% and 73% of patients believed tobacco and alcohol to be harmful to bone-healing. 31% thought that there was a harmful effect to bone-healing with ibuprofen and 25% perceived the same regarding caffeine. Paracetamol, vinegar, and chocolate were considered to be least harmful to bone-healing with 20%,15% and 11% responses respectively. Conclusions The majority of patients believed that there was a harmful association with tobacco and alcohol with regards to bone-healing. This harmful relationship is well understood in literature. However, we believe for the benefit of patients, they should all be aware of these detrimental effects. A clear possibility has been identified to improve fracture outcomes by empowering patients to take ownership of their injury by lifestyle modifications which are within their remit.