McLeodnews JULY 2012
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Members of the Orthopedic Unit and Rehab Services got together to celebrate the positive impact they are having on patients who need total hip and total knee replacements. McLeod has just been named a Center of Excellence for Total Hip and Total Knee Replacement Surgery by The Joint Commission.
‘Center of Excellence’ certification demonstrates quality care for patients Through a collaborative team effort, McLeod Regional Medical Center has been awarded certification by The Joint Commission as a Center of Excellence for Total Hip and Total Knee Replacement Surgery. The team, which is made up of staffs of the Orthopedic unit and Rehabilitation Services, as well as the orthopedic surgeons, are excited about what the certification means for their patients. “With Joint Commission certification, we are making a significant investment in quality on a day-to-day basis from the top down,” said Beki Cooley, Associate Vice President of McLeod Human Motion Specialists. “Accreditation also provides us with a framework to take our organization to the next level and helps create a culture of excellence. Achieving Joint Commission certification in total hips and total knees, for our organization, is a major step toward maintaining excellence and continually improving the care we provide.” “We knew we had an outstanding program, and this certification reinforced it,” said Physical Therapy Supervisor Emily Adams. “Our total focus is making surgery and rehab a good experience for patients. Our number-one goal is for them to have a great outcome.
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“With our being named a center of excellence, we think patients will realize they are making a very good choice.” The certification project took about a year to complete. “We saw an opportunity for finetuning our clinical practice,” Adams said. “We looked at other hospitals and used our consultants and their resources to improve our program here.” One of the areas the team looked at included patient education. They looked at attendance in a class where patients could learn more about their procedure before surgery. To reach more patients, the team produced a DVD with the classroom material that they could distribute to those who did not attend the class. In addition, they are now making sure that all members of the total knee/total hip team are prepared to go through the pre-operative education with patients. The team also looked at post-surgical complications. Working with the Pre-Admit Testing staff, they are now able to identify patients who may need to take medications before surgery to avoid complications. For patients with urinary complications, the physical therapists acquired hooks to keep bags upright so that complications during exercise could be avoided. McLeod underwent a rigorous on-site survey in June. “The surveyor was impressed with what he saw,” Adams said. “He also brought ideas to us that we are excited about implementing.” One of those ideas is a timeline mapping out every event that a patient can expect during the surgical and rehab process. It will be given out to patients and will prepare all staff to be able to answer patient questions.
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