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Joint Replacement Handbook | Providence Sacred Heart and Holy Family Hospitals

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28 TO KEEP MUSCLES ST RO NG: Quadriceps Sets (See Appendix) Gluteal Sets (See Appendix) TO PREVENT INFE CTION : Practice good hand hygiene yourself, either with soap and water or with alcohol based sanitizer. Encourage your visitors to use hand sanitizer provided by the hospital. Keep a bottle of hand sanitizer with you after you go home. Do not hesitate to ask your caregivers if they have washed their hands. Keep your incision and dressing clean and dry, according to your surgeon's instructions. Never let pets smell or lick your wound. Contrary to old myths, animals do not have a natural antibiotic in the saliva or mouth. Remove your acrylic, gel, dip nails at least 2 weeks prior to surgery. Refrain from touching or rubbing your incision. Do not apply and lotions or creams to your incision. Please remember, you carry bacteria o your hands that can enter the wound. PAIN REL IEF AFTE R SU RGE RY OUR COMMITMENT T O YO UR PAIN RE LIEF Although all pain cannot be eliminated, our goal is to make you comfortable. The goal of post- operative pain management is to enable you to do the required physical and occupational therapy and to minimize pain and stress. Post-surgical pain is usually managed with multiple pain reducing medications. Your nurse will coordinate an individualized plan to meet your pain management goals. The expectation is to keep your pain at a level where you can tolerate all activities. As you progress, you can expect your pain to lessen. Zero pain is not realistic. HOW T O RATE YOUR PAI N The team will use a pain scale to help determine your level of pain. The scale ranges from 0 to 10, zero being no pain and 10 being worst pain ever felt. Please familiarize yourself with the pain rating scale to help us to assess if our interventions are helpful.

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