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 proce-
dures for the morning. Our doors close at 5 p.m. and we want to give
8 4 • 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 U Y 2 0 1 8
• MAP IT OUT A templating program like this example helps you fit implants
against your patient's X-ray to determine the precise size and angle of the hip
implant.
Christopher
McClellan,
MD
