Introduction
Some old people suffer from pain in their hip joints and have difficulty walking. To solve this problem they may be offered a hip replacement – the damaged hip is replaced with an artificial hip.
In this activity you will be using your research skills to find out about:
- the structure of a hip joint
- why a hip replacement may be needed
- what happens during hip-replacement surgery
- the benefits and risks of hip-replacement surgery.
You will be using your literacy skills to produce a fact-sheet to be given out to patients who are thinking about having hip-replacement surgery.
Task
You are going to produce a fact-sheet that doctors can hand out to patients who are thinking about having hip-replacement surgery.
Your factsheet should :
- contain a labelled diagram of the structure of the hip joint
- explain the job of each part of the hip joint
- include a short overview of what happens during hip-replacement surgery
- provide information on the benefits and risks of hip-replacement surgery
- fill one side of an A4 sheet
- use appropriate language that can be understood by people who have no medical
or scientific knowledge.
Process
Step 1
Research the following topics:
- the structure of a hip joint
- why a hip replacement may be needed
- what happens during hip-replacement surgery
- the benefits and risks of hip-replacement surgery
Step 2
Find a diagram of the hip joint. Add labels to identify the different parts of the joint.
Step 3 (extension)
Find out what other options there are for patients with damaged hip joints, and how
hip-replacement surgery is improving.
Step 4
Plan appropriate sub-headings to structure your fact-sheet and decide on the important information you want to include.
Step 5
Make your fact-sheet.
Sources
Basic structure of a joint
This website contains information on the parts of a joint.
www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/science/organisms_behaviour_health/life_processes/
revision/7/
Structure of the hip joint
This website contains information on the structure of the hip joint.
www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/standard/pe/the_body/structure_and_function/revision/2/
Hip-replacement surgery
This website contains information on why a hip replacement may be needed, what is involved in a hip-replacement operation, and risks of having the surgery.
www.bupa.co.uk/individuals/health-information/directory/h/hip-replacement
Hip-replacement surgery and alternatives/the future (extension)
This website contains information on why a hip replacement may be needed, what is involved in the operation, and risks of having the surgery. It also contains information on alternatives to hip-replacement surgery and improvements to the procedure.
www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Hip-replacement/Pages/Introduction.aspx
Evaluation
You have now made a fact-sheet that doctors can hand out to patients who are thinking about having hip-replacement surgery. Look at the questions below, and check that you have met the brief.
- Does your fact-sheet contain a labelled diagram of the structure of the hip joint?
- Have you explained the function of the different parts of the hip joint?
- Have you included an overview of what happens during surgery?
- Have you provided information on the benefits and risks of surgery?
- Have you included information on alternatives and improvements to hip-replacement surgery? (extension)
- Does your fact-sheet fit onto one side of an A4 sheet?
- Have you used appropriate language that can be understood by people who have no medical or scientific knowledge?