Introducing new Pre-operative Education classes for Joint Replacement Patients
By Sumayyah ParkarJune 18, 2012
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This new initiative provides pre-operative education classes four to eight weeks prior to a patient's scheduled surgery, delivered by rehabilitation professionals in our Outpatient Rehabilitation program. Patients are given an overview of what to expect in the hospital and after they are discharged home, prescription for a two-wheeled walker and assistive devices for daily living activities, an opportunity to review pre-operative exercises they can do to prepare for surgery and informational materials they can take home to read. Family members are strongly encouraged to attend these classes to ask questions right alongside the patients.
"Our idea behind introducing this program was to improve the understanding of patients undergoing surgery by giving them the information upfront in an appropriate timeframe so they can begin their recovery safely after surgery," said Marie Eason-Klatt, Professional Practice Leader (PPL) for Occupational Therapy, who helped implement this program with Christopher Ashdown, PPL for Physiotherapy. Together, the two contributed to the development of the GTA Rehab Network guideline for pre-admission processes for Total Joint Replacement patients.
Pre-operative education classes started on March 7th and Marie also credits the success of the program to support from the Health Centre's administration and the efforts of a quality improvement team comprised of Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists from Outpatient Rehabilitation and Sandy Vicente, Education Coordinator for the Surgical Program.
"Our aim is deliver the best care possible and create a positive experience for both patients and their families. We want our patients to be better informed and better prepared so they are satisfied with their experience at St. Joe's," said Marie.
Mr. Manuel Luis Aguiar, the husband of one of the patients who attended our Pre-operative Education class, found the class to be very helpful and informative. "We get all the details about what to expect and it is an interactive way of learning because everyone is asking questions. It feels like there is a lot of peer to peer support," said Aguiar.
Dr. George Vincent, Head of Orthopaedics at St. Joe's called this program an evolutionary step towards patient-focused care. He believes that educating patients is integral as it gives them an introduction to the surgery and puts everything in perspective allowing them to go through the entire experience in a seamless manner.
The pre-operative joint education program creates a link for patients between their inpatient care and continued Outpatient Rehabilitation following surgery.
"As a surgeon who refers patients to the pre-operative education classes, I think in-house outpatient physiotherapy has proved to be very beneficial as it allows easy feedback between the therapists and the treating surgeon," said Dr. Vincent. "It also provides patients with continuity of care as their treatment is managed by the fewest number of individuals all of whom interact very easily with each other."
This new pre-operative education program is a natural extension of the Health Centre's goal of providing patients with complete continuum of care, in their community close to their home.
Page last updated: March 25, 2011
