The thought of outpatient total hip replacement would have been unbelievable just a few years ago, when the surgery lasted 2 to 3 hours and the post-op hospital stay was measured in days, not hours. But today we routinely discharge patients 3 hours after their surgery so that they're home in time for dinner.
The well-choreographed day of surgery looks like this. The patient meets for about an hour in the morning with a nurse to review the surgery, medications and home care. The surgery takes about 45 minutes, then there's recovery and a 40-minute walking-light therapy session. Many facilities arrange for a patient to spend the first post-op night or two in a nearby hotel, but we let the patient recover at home, where nurses and physical therapists will visit. How do we make this happen? Here are 3 keys to success with same-day hips.
1 Follow a set day-of-surgery routine
At our facility, we conduct up to 4 to 6 total joint surgeries at a time, but we generally have several other procedures scheduled as well, so it becomes crucial to have a set plan that surgeons, nurses and administrators are clear on, and ready to carry out.
A day of surgery starts with a patient arriving 90 minutes before his scheduled start time. We schedule all of our total hip and knee procedures for the morning. Our doors close at 5 p.m. and we want to give patients adequate time to recover following the surgery before they have to go home.
Our patients have already met with many of the team members — including the surgeon, anesthesia provider, a nurse and home therapy helpers — in earlier consultations, so they're comfortable with the staff members and more at-ease the morning of surgery.
