some gentle prodding from my
good friend to convince me to try
it. He'd had his other hip done at
the hospital and had no intention
of staying overnight after the sec-
ond one.
"OK," I told him, "let's do it."
Since that first successful
attempt 2 years ago, we've per-
formed about 100 outpatient hip
replacements. Here's an inside
look at our multifaceted program
that readies them for same-day
discharge. First, though, you must
select the right patients.
Targeting the
right candidates
Our hospital's inpatients and out-
patients move through the same
ORs and recover in rooms on the
inpatient floor, so we were able to
observe the evolution of how
unnecessary the overnight hospi-
tal stay had become for some hip replacement patients. Our first filter
when looking for candidates to undergo the procedure on an outpa-
tient basis is to determine if the patient is motivated to go home on
the day of surgery. We next confirm that patients have support in
place at home to ensure their post-op recovery goes smoothly. They
also have to live within an hour-and-a-half's drive of the hospital.
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 8 7
• OPEN ENDED The anterior approach to
hip replacement offers several advantages.
