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We've Got Patients Covered After Joint Surgery
Going home after a hip or knee operation can be tough. But Joint Express at Home, a new program including therapy and personalized support services, helps ease the transition for patients in McLaren Health Care subsidiary hospitals.
Program Features:
- Smooth transition from acute hospitalization to homecare services
- Patient education materials
- Home exercise program
- Use of physician protocols and standing orders
- Patient calls placed before and after surgery
- Specially-trained therapy staff that is able to draw and report lab values,
perform staple removal and provide home exercise program progression and
advancement in gait
- Patient home safety assessment
- Coordinated transition to outpatient therapy following homecare
service
An Eye on Safety First
Miroslaw Babinski, P.T., makes home visits as part of the Joint Express at Home program. He says, "Our main focus is safety. We teach patients to transfer into and out of their cars and make sure they can get up and down the stairs." Babinski and his colleagues also monitor patients' incisions to guard against infection, check for possible blood clots, and remind their clients to do strengthening and flexibility exercises.
No Place Like Home
As the name suggests, Joint Express at Home helps keep patients at home, where they want to be, instead of in a convalescent center. And this home-based therapy begins within 24 hours after hospital discharge, even on weekends. Within a few weeks, most patients improve enough to begin outpatient therapy.
Giving Confidence to Patients
Patients are thankful for the Joint Express program, Babinski says. "At first, some of them are unsure what they can do and what to avoid. After we give them proper instructions, they're good to go."
Want to know more about Joint Express at Home and other programs coordinated by McLaren HomeCare? Call Customer Service toll-free at 866-323-5974.
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