Plans to promote participant retention and complete follow-up {18b}
fracture-related infection
EVENT
All attempts will be made to encourage patients to adhere to the study follow-up schedule. Contact information for the patient and two close contacts are obtained to maximize our chances of maintaining contact. Each patient will be reminded by phone the week preceding their follow-up appointment. To ease the burden of follow-up, all study patients will also be seen for follow-up in a dedicated study clinic and will have the fees for their radiographs, follow-up, and necessary bloodwork covered by the study. In the event a patient is unable to make a follow-up appointment in their dedicated follow-up window, a telephone fracture-related infection screen will be completed and attempts to reschedule future appointments will be made.Patients are made aware during the consenting process that enrollment in the study that patients will incur the standard fees for evaluation and treatment; however, to decrease the financial burden of study participation and follow-up, the following procedures will be covered for all participants:Systemic antibiotics for all screened patientsPreoperative, postoperative, and 2-week creatine levelsC-reactive protein levels at all study follow-upsAll follow-up radiographsFollow-up consolation fees for the follow-up clinical evaluations at a dedicated study clinic to minimize wait timesTwo intraoperative cultures for any study patient who undergoes a reoperation