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Features for Senior Citizens
Its Off to Camp if Seniors Need a New Knee or Other
Joint Replaced
Baylor Medical Center promotes wellness, camaraderie and friendly competition
just like summer camp
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Rosalyn Scott, PT,
physical therapy supervisor, works with patients during group
therapy. |
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Feb. 28, 2008 Senior citizens, who generally
assume their going-to-camp days are over, may get a surprise if they
need joint replacement surgery at least if they seek the help at
Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.
There they will be joined by
other patients having the same procedure in a camp type atmosphere
that promotes wellness, camaraderie and friendly competition to help
ensure that each patient has the best possible outcome.
The camp-style program goes from pre-op education
to post-op recovery at Baylor and is known as the Joint Wellness
Program. This new and innovative approach to joint replacement surgery
is part of a larger national trend in healthcare to offer patients a
focused approach to recovery following surgery.
Currently, the program is available to patients
undergoing total knee replacements, with plans to incorporate other
procedures such as total hip replacements within the next six months.
And, it is not just for senior citizens.
Typically, patients have surgery on day one, are
evaluated by a physical therapist the morning of day two and begin group
therapy sessions that afternoon. In most cases, they are ready to go
home by the third day. Traditionally, the average length of stay
following a knee replacement is at least four days.
We believe our patients are able to go home sooner
because the staff dedicates personal attention to each patient in a
well-coordinated fashion, says Fabian Pollo, PhD, executive director of
the Baylor Dallas Department of Orthopaedics.
It has been shown that programs focused on
coordinated care produce better patient outcomes. This program was
designed to improve post-operative rehabilitation and most importantly,
the patients experience by giving patients the knowledge and tools they
need to make the transition from hospital to home as smooth as
possible.
Yetta Williams agrees. After having her second knee
replacement in less than a year, she says she prefers her recovery in a
group setting.
If you have to have a knee replacement, this is
the way to do it, says Williams. This approach is similar to a support
group. We encourage and motivate each other which helped make recovery
go much more smoothly.
Prior to surgery, each patient is encouraged to
attend a pre-operative education session where they learn what to expect
before, during and after their procedure. The program coordinator
communicates with each patient before surgery, during their stay and
after discharge to follow-up on their recovery.
In addition, family members are encouraged to
participate as the patients coach to assist them during their
hospital stay and when they return home. During recovery, patients wear
their own clothes rather than a hospital gown.
We want our patients to feel comfortable and
empowered, says Anna Bingham, Joint Wellness Program coordinator. Just
by dressing in their own clothes they feel less like a patient and more
like a guest which in turn helps them recover faster. We have already
seen dramatic increases in our patient satisfaction scores since the
program started.
The 24-bed unit is located on the sixth floor of
Jonsson Hospital at Baylor Dallas. The private patient rooms are large
and comfortable with easily accessible bathrooms designed to meet the
special needs of patients recovering from joint replacement surgery.
Currently, more than 600,000 joint replacements are
performed in the United States each year. The Baylor Dallas Department
of Orthopaedics performs over 1,500 joint replacements annually and has
been named as one of the top 50 orthopaedic departments in the nation by
U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Hospitals Guide."
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