One of my patients I had during the last two clinical days was recovering from a Total Bilateral Hip Arthroplasty, in other words he had both his hips replaced. I asked the nurse about this procedure and they said that they rarely do both hips at once because the recovery time is lengthened too long which could lead to other health problems. Because my patient was 52yrs old, he was young enough to handle the recovery period.
We will call him "G" for short. G is an athlete who developed arthritis in his hips. He had no significant medical history except for a tonsilectomy. My focus of care was to make sure my patient had a good recovery which required movements, breathing exercises and assisting with activities of daily living. All during the shift I was able to encourage deep breathing and the use of the incentive spirometer which helped expand his lungs and increase oxygen and waste product exchange in the body. It is important to stress these activities because when under anesthesia, mechanical ventilation is used and fluid can accumulate making it difficult to breathe. A goal for a nurse with a post-op patient is to keep those lungs free of fluid and to make sure the patient is getting an adequate oxygen supply. I assessed my patient at 82% oxygen saturation, my first response was..."G can you take a few deep breaths for me?" He did so and brought his oxygen level to 96%. That's how easy it was. We just have to keep making sure they breathe!! Other times coughing will help.
The most exciting thing that happened with my patient was getting him up to a walker and walking him all the way down the hallway which is about 150'+ feet. The day before I walked him about 20.' What an improvement! I was so impressed with someone who was post-op only 2 days with BOTH hips replaced to have such an incredible improvement! I was so happy! I told him I would go get him a butterfinger for walking that much (I had caught him eating one earlier) and he said, "Where are your angel wings? Are you hiding them from me?" haha! He was such a sweetie!
It's great to see that patients who have such a huge surgery improve that much! It warms my heart to hear that G is actually going home today, walking, with pain free movements, with a smile! So glad I could be a part of his recovery! :)
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