Same-day Hip Replacements get Patients Back on Their Feet

CBS News—May 17, 2016

CBS News reporter Heba Kanso reports on same-day hip replacement surgery and its impact on patient care and recovery. According to the article, "At most hospitals, hip replacement patients can expect a one- to three-night hospital stay." Now, it is becoming more common for hospitals to implement same-day hip replacement programs. Typically, "Patients are screened first to make sure they don't have risk factors like obesity, chronic liver disease or cardiac problems. Those who have risk factors must plan on staying overnight in the hospital, not going right home."

Douglas E. Padgett, MD, a hip and knee surgeon and chief of the Adult Reconstruction and Joint Replacement Service at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), explains the conservative approach that HSS takes when sending patients home the same day following surgery. "The number of patients that are going home at this point in time in our institution is somewhere between 1 and 2 percent. So it's a relatively small percentage of patients that are going directly home." Dr. Padgett also notes, "While I recognize there is no place like home, should there be the need for urgent or medical care the question is will that be available to the patient when they're in the setting of their own home."

To read the full article and to watch the full segment, visit CBSNews.com.