Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.
Issue link: http://outpatientsurgery.uberflip.com/i/726435
back to full-time work and an active lifestyle at 6 weeks post-op. Clinical considerations We've found that performing hips on an outpatient basis is value- added for patients — not having to spend a night in the hospital changes the whole care equation and makes them more willing to undergo surgery. Sending patients home the day of surgery makes even more sense if you consider that prolonged hospital stays add to complication risks and could ultimately prove detrimental to the health of patients. Every member of our clinical team who touches patients, from the first pre-op meeting to the last long-term follow-up care appointment, is involved in the planning of our program, which includes these key elements. • Patient education. Patients scheduled for surgery must take a 3- hour class that details the course of their care. We realize patients learn in lots of different ways and retain info at different rates, so we also provide information about the procedure and how the day of sur- gery will play out. We give them the rehab requirements on a DVD that they can keep and review. We also provide written instructions for patients who like to have hard copies of information at their fin- gertips. By the time patients arrive for surgery, they have an hour-by-hour breakdown of how the day will progress. They know what physical therapy will entail, when they'll eat lunch, when we'll make the final discharge decision and when they'll be discharged if they're cleared to go home. Patients get more and more comfortable as the day pro- gresses as long as we stick to the plan. That increasing level of com- fort quiets a lot of their concerns and anxieties. In addition, we com- municate the expectation of early ambulation soon after surgery early and often, so patients buy into what it will take to send them home on 9 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 • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6