Not all that long ago, someone undergoing hip replacement surgery would stay in hospital for four to five days after the operation. Today, in one Toronto hospital, many patients don’t even need to stay overnight — they can go home the same day.
That might be a scary prospect if patients weren’t prepared ahead of time, with information about what to expect after surgery, and what the medical team has done to make same-day discharge safe. However, the University Health Network’s Sprott Department of Surgery provides precisely that type of patient education, in addition to the promise an experienced health care provider is just a phone call away if any questions arise after discharge.
As someone who wrote her first piece on hip replacement surgery back in 1994, I found the story of how the team of health professionals at the Sprott made hip replacement surgery into an outpatient operation fascinating. I’m sure you will, too.
You can read about this, and other world-leading innovations that are taking place within that institution’s walls in the inaugural edition of the Sprott Department of Surgery Magazine. You can find an easier to read copy of my story ‘New Hips, Shorter Trips’, here, on the Toronto Western and General Hospital Foundation website.
Thank-you to all of the interviewees who generously made the time to speak with me: Sharyn Shell, two-time veteran of hip replacement surgery; Drs. Rod Davey and Michael Zywiel, who are both orthopaedic surgeons; Dr. Rajiv Ghandi, an orthopaedic surgeon and Medical Director of Altum Health (the group of clinics where hip replacement patients go for post-op physiotherapy and rehabilitation); Amanda Ma, one of the registered nurses who cares for patients after surgery; and Kendra Willis, a registered nurse and patient care coordinator.