AGH Opens Center for Restorative Joint Surgery
September 29, 2008
Allegheny General Hospital (AGH) has opened its new Center for Restorative Joint Surgery—a 20-bed unit that centralizes the care of patients in a technologically advanced facility with hotel-like ambiance and amenities. AGH officials say the Center is designed to enhance the healing process of patients who require knee, hip, shoulder, elbow or ankle replacement surgery.
"We believe the hospital experience is an integral part of the patient's recovery. This Center offers the latest technology and clinical advances within a unique environment that is designed to ease the stress and discomfort of patients and expedite the recovery process," said Nicholas Sotereanos, MD, director of the Center for Restorative Joint Surgery, and director of the AGH Division of Adult Reconstructive Surgery.
The new unit employs a state-of-the-art nurse call system, called Responder NET Nurse Call, that keeps patients and their nurses in constant communication. The system equips nurses with a portable phone and a tracer tag to wear on their collar that contains an infrared sensor that can track their location. When a patient calls for help using their bedside touchpad, he is connected directly with his nurse's phone.
"Our goal with this system is to address a patient's needs as expeditiously and thoroughly as possible," said Marcia Ferrero, RN, nursing division director at AGH. "The system also eliminates the need for overhead paging, which minimizes the amount of noise on the floor and enhances our ability to provide care in the most comfortable environment possible."
The new Center is also the first in the region to afford patients access to the ON-Q Post-Operative Pain Relief System, an innovative technology that provides targeted pain relief after join replacement surgery. The System is a balloon-like pump that delivers non-narcotic, local anesthetic medicine directly to an incision site.
"ON-Q is an emerging standard of care for surgical patients that enables us to provide effective, continuous pain relief over a course of days with minimal, if any, need for systemic narcotic drugs and their associated side effects. With this technology, patients are able to rehabilitate their reconstructed joints more effectively and return to normal activity more quickly," said Florin Orza, M.D., an AGH anesthesiologist.
After patients are admitted to the unit following surgery, physical therapy and occupational therapy are conducted on-site in the unit's rehabilitation facility.
Furnished and equipped to provide patients and family members with the utmost in comfort and convenience, each patient room on the unit is private and includes a 26-inch flat panel television, and wireless Internet access among other amenities.
"We are excited about the capabilities of this new Center and believe it will be recognized as the premiere facility of its kind in western Pennsylvania," Dr. Sotereanos said.
In addition to Dr. Sotereanos, other orthopaedic surgeons who provide joint restorative care in AGH's Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, and who collectively performed more than 900 joint replacement surgeries during the past year, are Jeffrey Sewecke, DO, Brett Smith, MD, Gregory Lavigne, MD, Alan Klein, MD, Julius Huebner, MD, Mark Baratz, MD, Dean Sotereanos, MD, Christopher Schmidt, MD, Thomas Hughes, MD, Stephen Conti, MD, and Michael Seel, MD. The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery also employs 140 ancillary staff.
"Allegheny General has one of the most outstanding joint replacement programs in the country," said Patrick DeMeo, M.D., chairman, AGH Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. "Our physicians are recognized as national leaders in this field and this Center will compliment their skills. It also will standardize the treatment protocols that allow us to achieve consistently superior outcomes and maximize patient safety, as well as set a new standard for addressing the comprehensive needs and comfort of patients and their families."
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