Successful mentorship program in Latin America leads to more Fracture Liaison Services, finds new review

Fracture liaison services (FLS) are evidence-based models of care that improve secondary fracture prevention by providing detection, assessment, treatment initiation and monitoring for patients who have experienced an osteoporosis-related fracture.

To fully realise the benefits of systematic secondary fracture prevention, local FLS sites need support in getting started and becoming optimally effective. To address this need, the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) Capture the Fracture^® Partnership (CTF-P) initiative has established a mentorship programme aimed at fostering national networks of FLS experts. These experts play a crucial role in providing training to emerging FLS practitioners by sharing knowledge about the FLS pathway, how to get services started and how to become more effective in what is often a complex national healthcare context.

Now, a newly published review describes the development, implementation, and impact of the Latin American mentorship programme, with its focus on Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Argentina. It found that, despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the programme resulted in the development of active and productive communities of mentors in each of the four countries, resulting in 64 FLSs getting started from 2019 to 2021, and providing coverage for more than 17,200 fracture patients. In comparison, LATAM countries not involved in the mentorship programme saw no new FLS getting started, with the exception of Chile in which two FLS were started during this time period.

The review also highlights the Mentorship Programme’s many other strengths and achievements, including:

• The importance and effectiveness of peer-based mentoring to help facilitate the sharing of good practice.
• The benefits of interregional virtual learning as an effective means of teaching, when delivered in the local language, with the support of live translation.
• The multidisciplinary nature of the programme brought together clinicians involved in post-fracture care from both medical and surgical specialities. This partnership is essential for FLS improvement, which relies on multidisciplinary care.
• The programme encouraged research outputs that highlight the experiences, successes and challenges of FLS in individual countries that then serve as an information and educational tool for other countries.
• Needs-assessment and ongoing evaluation surveys both after the training and at annual time points demonstrated the value of recording the mentor’s input to improve the programme.
• Mentoring was also associated with other favourable outcomes such as relationship building, leadership, behavioural, motivational, and career outcomes.
• Mentorship under the auspices of the IOF also fostered a sense of professional identity of being part of a larger global initiative to reduce fracture rates at the local level.

Professor Cyrus Cooper, IOF President stated:

“The mentorship pillar of the Capture the Fracture^® Partnership has been hugely successful. Although focussed in Latin America, the mentorship programme clearly represents a scalable pathway to developing multiple communities of FLS mentors across the globe. We sincerely thank the IOF regional team led by Monica Calo, LATAM Regional Manager, and colleagues at the University of Oxford, led by Prof. Kassim Javaid, for all their hard work and unstinting efforts in supporting this instrumental programme to advance secondary fracture prevention. The excellent curriculum and associated resources will continue to aid the promotion of FLS establishment and quality improvement in the region.”

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Reference: 

M.K. Javaid, M. Calo, S. Wullich, Z. Mohsin, E. Castro Osorio, A. Medina Orjuela, C. Arteaga Unigarro, L. Mendez-Sanchez, J. Torres Naranjo, L. Tikle Vieira, K. Kuraoka Tutiya, A. Manoel Inacio, A. Olascoaga-Gomez de Leon, J. Carlos Viveros García, C. Habib, F. Subies, J. P. Guyot, M. Diehl, G. Carabelli, A. Soulie & C. Cooper. Development, implementation and evaluation of a multinational FLS mentorship programme in Latin America. Osteoporos Int (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-023-06742-6

About Capture the Fracture^®

Capture the Fracture® (CTF) is a multi-stakeholder initiative, led by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF), to facilitate the implementation of Post-Fracture Care (PFC) Coordination Programs, such as Fracture Liaison Services (FLS), for secondary fracture prevention. The CTF initiative, which celebrated its 10th year of service in 2022, aims to drive changes at local and regional levels to prioritize secondary fracture prevention. It sets global best practice standards and offers recognition for Fracture Liaison Services (FLS) through its Best Practice Framework. CTF also provides essential resources and documentation to build the case for prioritization of secondary fracture prevention and to help drive the implementation and quality improvement of FLS. Mentorship programs that support the development of FLS at the local level are also offered.

The Capture the Fracture^® Partnership, a global initiative launched in 2020, is a collaboration between the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF), the University of Oxford, Amgen and UCB, amplifying the Capture the Fracture programme launched in 2012. It seeks to address the global health burden of osteoporosis through five interconnected pillars, following a comprehensive, top-down and bottom-up approach, and aligning stakeholders at the international, national and local level in prioritized countries across the Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. The aim is to prioritize and drive more rapid uptake of post-fracture care coordination programmes around the world.

Currently, the CTF network includes 854 FLS in 54 countries worldwide. FLS are invited to apply for free assessment and recognition via the CTF website’s online Best Practice Framework application platform. https://www.capturethefracture.org    #CaptureTheFracture

About IOF

The International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) is the world's largest nongovernmental organization dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of osteoporosis and related musculoskeletal diseases. IOF members, including committees of scientific researchers as well as more than 320 patient, medical and research organizations, work together to make fracture prevention and healthy mobility a worldwide heath care priority. https://www.osteoporosis.foundation   @iofbonehealth