Why One-On-One Pre-Op Education is Crucial for Joint Replacement Patients

People’s lifestyles don't come in a one-size-fits-all form, Forté Sports Medicine and Orthopedics physical therapist Monica Schrader explains. For that very reason, when it comes to joint replacement surgery, taking time up-front to understand each patient's circumstances - home set-up, career needs, the level of help required of a designated caregiver and patient goals - is crucial to ensuring the best possible outcome post-surgery.

Prior to joint replacement surgery, every patient at Forté Sports Medicine and Orthopedics receives personalized, one-on-one joint replacement education to help ease their anxieties and prepare them for what to expect when coming home from surgery.

This time is spent ensuring

• medical equipment is obtained, set up and practiced before surgery
• proper use of the assistive devices to safely navigate their home and stairs
• the patient understands strategies to reduce pain and swelling
• proper surgical wound care
• caregivers understand their responsibilities in assisting the patient
• fall risk items are identified and removed before surgery
• realistic expectations for immediate post-op activity levels and when the patient can return to pain-free home and work tasks and exercise  

The principle goal of pre-op joint replacement education is to ensure there is nothing to figure out upon arriving home from surgery, Schrader explains - everything will have been planned, practiced and ready to go. What's more, realistic and appropriate expectations are outlined so patients are aware how and when to safely return to their desired level of activity. "By empowering our patients with knowledge tailored to their own needs," Schrader says, "we optimize the outcome of their joint replacement surgery."  

As a physical therapist, Monica Schrader’s treatment philosophy is simply this: a patient is more complex than just one joint or a single surgery. Experienced in treating a wide variety of patients undergoing different sports medicine and orthopedic surgical procedures, she knows - pre-op or post-op, patient education is best-done one-on-one.