Essential elements of an outpatient total joint replacement programme
Purpose of review
To summarize the safety and feasibility of outpatient total joint arthroplasty (TJA) from the perspectives of short-term complications, long-term functional outcomes, patient satisfaction and financial impact, and to provide evidence-based guidance on how to establish an outpatient TJA programme.
Recent findings
TJA has been recently transitioned from an exclusively inpatient procedure for all Medicare and Medicaid patients to an outpatient surgery in properly selected total knee arthroplasty patients. This change may decrease costs while maintaining comparable rates of readmission, adverse events, positive surgical outcomes and patient satisfaction.
Summary
With a standardized clinical pathway, outpatient TJA can be safe and effective in a subset of patients. Essential components of a successful outpatient TJA programme include proper patient selection, preoperative patient/family education, perioperative multidisciplinary coordination and opioid-sparing analgesia, and early and effective postdischarge planning. More studies are needed to further assess and optimize this new care paradigm.
Source: Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology - Category: Anesthesiology Tags: REGIONAL ANESTHESIA: Edited by Nabil Elkassabany Source Type: research
More News: Anesthesia | Anesthesiology | Education | Medicaid | Medicare | Orthopaedics | Study | Universities & Medical Training