The last year has seen many advancements in total joint care for our patients here in Richmond, VA. Our total joint team at OrthoVirginia and Johnston-Willis Hospital has been working diligently to provide better outcomes for our patients.
A key priority has been an accelerated recovery program which gets patients up and going immediately after surgery. Physical therapy is now seeing our patients multiple times each day.
This has resulted in a dramatic reduction in length of time in the hospital. Our average anterior total hip replacement patient is now admitted to the hospital for less than 24 hours. Our average minimally invasive total knee replacement patient is now admitted for approximately 36 hours.
These times represent marked reductions as compared to even a few years ago. We have also been working closely to develop pain control pathways that minimize narcotic usage and the associated risks such as nausea/vomiting, confusion, and constipation. We are now prescribing on average 50% fewer narcotics than traditionally was the case.
The popularity of the anterior hip replacement continues to grow in central Virginia. Johnston-Willis Hospital has maintained a commitment to the anterior total hip program with the addition of a third Hana Table and added operating room time for our team in order to meet the patient demand for this procedure. In 2017, we performed nearly 400 primary anterior total hip replacements along with almost 300 primary total knee replacements. This was far and away the most in Central Virginia. Additionally, we were also able to help many patients who presented with problematic total joints from outside facilities by offering revision total joint replacement services for complex problems.
We are very honored and blessed to be able to continue to assist patients in Central Virginia who are suffering from hip and knee pain. We look forward to continuing to push the boundaries of joint replacement in order to provide better outcomes for our patients!