The Catharina Hospital in Eindhoven will treat fractures without plaster cast. At least, simple injuries such as an ankle or forearm might not need a plaster cast.
The Eindhovens Dagblad reported this in a news article. According to Niek Schepel, an orthopedic surgeon at the Catharina Hospital, some injuries can be healed easily. Instead of a plaster cast, patients with certain fractures are only given a brace or pressure bandage.
They can remove these themselves later on. To do this properly, patients are guided via an app. “The app gives the patients instructions, exercises, and further information,” says Schepel. Therefore, the standard check-up visit and X-ray may not be necessary. The app will be available from 9 July.
According to Schepel, more than 900 patients can be treated in this new way every year. To date, the Catharina Hospital is the only hospital in the Southeast Brabant region that has adopted this new method. They did not come up with it themselves; the idea was adopted from the OLVG (Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis) hospital in Amsterdam. In 2019, this was the first hospital in the Netherlands to change the way fractures are treated on a large scale. In the near future, many hospitals are expected to adopt this new method to treat a large number of orthopedic patients more effectively and efficiently.
Source: Studio040.nl
Translated by: Anitha Sevugan
