A designated three day elective orthopaedic surgery unit: First year’s results for hip and knee replacement patients Lara A. Kimmel B. Physio, Grad Dip Clin Epi (Senior Physiotherapist) a, * , Leonie B. Oldmeadow D.Physio, M.Clin.Educ b,1 , Claire Sage App Sci Nursing, M.Orth.Nursing c,2 , Susan M. Liew M.B.,B.S.(hons), F.R.A.C.S.(orth) (Clinical Associate Professor) c,d,3 , Anne E. Holland BAppSc(Physio Associate Professor), PhD e,4 a Department of Physiotherapy, The Alfred, P.O. Box 314, Melbourne 3004, Australia b Peninsula Health, Frankston Hospital, Physiotherapy Department, Vic., Australia c Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Alfred, P.O. Box 314, Melbourne 3004, Australia d Monash University, Melbourne, Australia e School of Physiotherapy, La Trobe University, and Department of Physiotherapy, The Alfred, P.O. Box 314, Melbourne 3004, Australia KEYWORDS Early discharge; Knee replacement; Hip replacement; Medical complications Summary Background: A short stay elective centre was opened in 2007 at The Alfred in Melbourne, Australia. The objective was to safely discharge patients home on the third post-operative day. This prospective observational study reports the outcomes for hip and knee replacement patients during the first year of operation. Methods: Forty-seven patients (28 women and 19 men; mean age 65 years) were eli- gible for the study. Data was collected at preadmission, discharge and 6 months. Results: Thirty-four of 47 patients (72.3%) achieved discharge home within 3 days. Mean length of stay for the whole group was 4.55 days (95% CI 3.78–5.33 days). Patients who had medical complications were significantly more likely to stay longer than 3 days (p < 0.001). Patients with more pre-operative co-morbidity were more likely to suffer a post-operative medical complication resulting in a stay longer than 1878-1241/$ - see front matter Crown Copyright  c 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijotn.2010.07.001 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 390763450; fax: +61 390762702. E-mail addresses: l.kimmel@alfred.org.au (L.A. Kimmel), loldmeadow@phcn.vic.gov.au (L.B. Oldmeadow), c.sage@alfred.org.au (C. Sage), s.liew@alfred.org.au (S.M. Liew), a.holland@alfred.org.au (A.E. Holland). 1 Tel.: +61 397847821. 2 Tel.: +61 390762000. 3 Tel.: +61 390762293. 4 Tel.: +61 390763450. International Journal of Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing (2011) 15, 29–34 www.elsevier.com/ijotn