Casting Standards
British Orthopaedic Association
Casting, the application, adaption and removal of patients casts, is a
SKILL
requiring
knowledge and judgement, not forgetting sensitivity, in order to safely care for the
patient.
Casting is not solely carried out by orthopaedic practitioners, but nurses and other
members of the multi-professional team.
Whilst most casting takes place in the Plaster Room many patients are cared for with
Emergency Department, Minor Injury Units and other clinical areas. It is
hope that
practitioners working within these areas will be able to use the guidelines to help develop
local standards which specify the resources they require, the methods that they will use
and the outcomes that they should expect.
The care described in the standards is based on the patient’s rights to be valued as a
unique person and to retain control of their own self (DOH 2010, Mental Capacity Act
2005, NHS Wales 2010)
A patients needs can include deficits in their knowledge about why they need a cast and
care of themselves in a cast, biological crises, difficulties in the environment or
restrictions imposed by treatment regimens, such as the inability to mobilise themselves
in the usual way.
The standards within this document are not new. Instead they represent practice that the
British Orthopaedic Association Casting Committee (BOACC)
believes should be integral
part of care. The standards have an audit protocol, which identifies a method by which
actual care can be compared with the recommended standards.