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The Future of Knee Repair - February 2016 - Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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the financial arm of the center because we don't want to have a patient die of MH." 3. Venous thromboembolism For facilities performing outpatient orthopedic procedures, take- home sequential compression devices can help reduce the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), says Lisa Herder, RN, BSN, nurse manager of Beaver Sports Medicine Surgery Center in Corvallis, Ore. After recently seeing an uptick in VTE cases after discharge, Ms. Herder says her center is developing a blood clot prevention program that includes the use of take-home SCDs, as well as better pre-op screening and post-op education of patients. "When patients score over a 5 (using the Caprini scoring sys- tem), they get compression stockings," says Ms. Herder. "For these high-risk patients, though, we wanted to add battery-operat- ed pneumatic devices." Creating this type of program is especially helpful for total joint patients who are "a little more bedridden" than typical outpatients, says Robert Morsut, RN, ADN, OR clinical coordinator for Peachtree Orthopaedic Surgery Center in Atlanta, Ga. "With the stepping up of our total joint program, we started a take-home sys- tem," he says. "Patients put the disposable SCD sleeves on at home, they simply push the button and it does the compression for them. Then when they're done with recovery, they receive a cardboard envelope to mail the pump back." When shopping around, Ms. Herder recommends looking for cordless devices — to help avoid tripping hazards — that also fea- ture user-friendly interfaces. Also consider the company's level of involvement in the process: Some handle all of the billing of patients' insurance and maintain the devices, while others will sell 1 0 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 6

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