Outpatient joint replacement allows patients to recover at home

As more and more older adults and seniors are living longer and more active lifestyles, joint replacement surgery has become much more common in recent years. At Brigham and Women’s Orthopaedic Center at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, experts are at the forefront of joint replacement care, providing innovative and high-quality diagnosis and treatment. And now, orthopaedic surgeons, including Director of Outpatient Arthroplasty Dr. Vivek Shah, are offering outpatient partial knee replacement and hip replacement surgery, allowing patients to return home on the same day as their surgery.

For healthy patients who are well prepared for surgery, partial knee and hip replacement surgery can safely be done on an outpatient basis. In fact, Dr. Shah says, “The benefits of performing these procedures on an outpatient basis include decreased risk of exposure to infection by avoiding a prolonged hospital stay and reducing the overall cost to the health system. Multiple well-done studies have shown these benefits with no increased rates of complications or readmissions in appropriate patients.”

Dr. Shah performs these operations regularly and his patients have had great success in their recovery. One of his patients has had both of her knees partially replaced by Dr. Shah. Her most recent surgery was outpatient. “I truly believe in his protocol of having the patient discharged as soon as possible with the ability to recover at home in the comfort and convenience of their own home. I was discharged the same day, less than 12 hours after surgery and was provided with all appropriate plans and instructions should any issues or concerns arise. My discharge and recovery could not have been smoother. When VNS and PT visited me at home the day following surgery they were amazed when I greeted them at the door and I was the patient! All in all, it was a great experience,” she says.