Spain's first-ever outpatient hip replacement performed in Barcelona
Tuesday, September 22, 2020 @ 5:04 PM
BARCELONA'S Hospital Clínic has carried out the first-ever hip replacement that does not need the patient to stay in overnight, eliminating the need for blood transfusions and morphine-type painkillers.
Already, the Clínic had managed to reduce in-patient stays for hip replacements from seven days in 2013 to three-and-a-half in 2019 by performing gradually less-invasive surgery and by focusing more on a combination of analysis and reorganisation, therapeutic education, and optimising the operating theatre and overall medical process using 'the best scientific evidence available', hospital sources say.
In other words, ongoing testing and getting the patient on his or her feet quicker with physiotherapy and explaining what to do have been key – in fact, in some hospitals in Spain, patients attend group sessions ahead of hip and knee replacements, so they know what to expect and how to deal with pain and stiffness afterwards, and can plan for their future, temporarily-restricted mobility before going under knife.
Hospital Clínic says the 'key' to cutting overnight stays for hip-replacement patients lies in surgical techniques that eliminate the need for blood transfusions and cut down the amount of morphine or morphine-strength painkillers needed to deal with post-operative discomfort.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com