After Pelvic Trauma: Investigating the prevalence and severity of pelvic floor dysfunction post pelvic trauma.

This multi-centre observational trial will involve adults (18 years of age and over) who are admitted to either The Royal Melbourne Hospital or The Alfred Hospital under an orthopaedic or trauma bed card with at least one pelvic fracture or traumatic changes (e.g. diastasis) on imaging (managed either non-operatively or operatively). Acute orthopaedic and trauma ward physiotherapists, doctors and in-charge nurses, as well as Trauma Clinical Nurse Consultants, will be responsible for identifying newly admitted patients with at least one pelvic fracture. In order to determine eligibility, the recruitment physiotherapists will complete the Screening Form for all potentially eligible patients admitted to the acute inpatient orthopaedic or trauma wards, using details obtained from the patient’s hospital record, liaising with the multidisciplinary team and/or conducting a verbal subjective examination face-to-face at the patient’s bedside or via telehealth. Once eligibility is confirmed, participants will be approached by the recruitment physiotherapist either face-to face at the bedside or via telehealth and provided with a verbal overview of the study procedures and commitment. Patients who are eligible and interested in participating in the study will then be provided with the Participant Informed Consent Form. The study physiotherapist will return either that afternoon (minimum 4 hours) or the following day and consenting participants will be required to confirm that they have read and understood the Participant Informed Consent Form (PICF) by signing and dating this document. The Initial Data Collection Form will be used to collect patient demographic details and other baseline data for all enrolled participants. These details will be obtained by study team members during the acute inpatient admission on the orthopaedic or trauma ward by utilising hospital records, liaising with the multidisciplinary team and/or by questioning the participant. All enrolled participants will complete the Australian Pelvic Floor Questionnaire (APFQ), with males who report being sexually active in the four weeks prior to their injury also required to complete the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5). These questionnaires will be administered at baseline during the acute hospital admission independently via a smart device, verbally at the patient’s bedside, or via telehealth, with an electronic link to the study emailed to them. If the patient is not confident in using the smart device, they will be given the option of a paper copy. The APFQ and IIEF-5 (for males) will be re-administered at the 3-month time point for all participants either independently at home via a smart device or assisted via telehealth by either the recruitment physiotherapists or independent study staff (other physiotherapists within the acute orthopaedic and trauma teams at both study sites) whom are not involved in data analysis. All scores will be entered and saved electronically in a custom-built REDCap database. 3-months post-injury, patients will be sent the questionnaire to complete again via email, with both an email and text message reminder after one week; and a phone call reminder one week later. Where multiple efforts to contact the participant fail, the study team will contact the participant’s Next of Kin to request a suitable time for follow-up. Attempts at making contact will cease after 6-weeks from the initial follow-up due date. The Follow Up Data Collection Form will also be administered at the 3-month time point via a weblink or telehealth using the same methods as above. This includes questions pertaining to ongoing issues or treatment of an orthopaedic nature, any assessment or treatment which has been sought or provided for PFD independent of this study, return to work status and any change to marital status. All participants recruited to the observational study will also be contacted at the 12 month time point and asked to complete both the questionnaires and Follow Up Data Collection Form via REDCap.