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Tiffani Haag, RN, BSN orthopedic nurse educator, demonstrates how to use a spirometer to maintain lung function after surgery.
Your Advanced Care
Preparing for Total Join Replacement
Did you know: Osteoarthritis is the overwhelming reason why patients undergo total joint replacement?
Bone Scans - Radiology
Home Health
In-Stride Amputee Program
Osteoporisis
Rehabilitation - Acute
Senior Services
Sports Therapy
Trauma - Level II
Wound Treatment
“Hey, you reached the ‘happy face’!” Joann Eye, a sparkling 70-year-old from Potosi, Mo., laughs as she watches a St. Anthony’s orthopedic nurse educator breathe into an incentive spirometer. Used to maintain lung function after surgery, the spirometer is one of several items that Tiffani Haag, RN, BSN, demonstrates while leading a total joint surgery preparation class.
“If you reach this face line, you’ve done a good job with your breathing,” she tells the group of hip replacement candidates and caregivers. Over the course of a two-hour period, Haag, along with a physical and an occupational therapist, go over what total joint surgery patients can expect before, during and after surgery. The class is a popular and long-standing tradition at St. Anthony’s.
 Yvonne Stewart, Rowena Allen and Joanne Eye attend a recent total joint replacement preparation class. |
“We go over everything from medications and equipment to the type of therapy they will receive,” says Haag. “We also tell patients to bring a spouse or caregiver to the class so they understand what’s needed once a patient returns home.”
St. Louis City resident Norbert Knollman nods toward his wife, Nancy, before a recent class. “My problems started two years ago and now I can’t bend over or carry anything even slightly heavy. I’m ready for this (surgery), but we both want to know what will happen.”
Orthopedic surgeon Dennis Dusek, MD, says he encourages all of his total joint patients to attend the class. “I think the experience relieves anxiety prior to surgery by answering patients’ questions,” he says. “This education, combined with patient compliance, provides for the best surgical outcome possible.”
Says Fenton resident Karen O’Dell, “It’s a lot of information, but it’s nice to know what to expect when I have my surgery.”
For information, please call our Health Access Line at 314-ANTHONY (268-4669) or 800-554-9550
or visit find a physician online.
At St. Anthony’s, our vision is to be the area’s premier health care organization
— and your first choice for health care services.