2010 WDH awarded Blue Distinction for Hip & Knee program
WDH Receives Blue Distinction Award for Hip & Knee Program
The Joint Replacement Program at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital received BlueCross BlueShield's Blue Distinction Center Designation award for excellence in the care of patients with hip and knee replacements. BlueCross BlueShield’s Blue Distinction recognizes that the facility’s overall experience and aggregate data met objective criteria established in collaboration with expert clinicians’ and leading professional organizations’ recommendations.
According to orthopedic surgeon, Moby Parsons, MD, Seacoast Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, the Joint Replacement Center at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital has been a collaborative effort to maximize patient satisfaction and outcomes after hip and knee replacement. “We are extremely fortunate that Wentworth-Douglass Hospital is committed to developing a Center for Excellence in joint replacement,” Dr. Parson s said, “and privileged to have an outstanding team of physicians, nurses, care managers, surgical technicians and therapists who are dedicated to the goals of the program.”
The Joint Replacement Center at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital offers a comprehensive planned course of treatment with a highly personal pre- and post-operative patient involvement program demonstrated to decrease pain and shorten recovery times.
Patients in the program receive comprehensive educational services before surgery, state-of-the-art pain management during and after surgery, and a rehab program focused on rapid recovery. In 2008, the Joint Replacement Center cared for 232 patients with hip or knee replacement and 47 patients with shoulder replacement surgery.
The Joint Replacement Center also offers educational programs throughout the year on hip and knee pain. In order to qualify as a Blue Distinction Center, the program must have a minimum of 100 total joint replacement surgeries within a 12 month period and the facility must be accredited by a national accrediting organization. The hospital must also complete a request for information survey covering clinical pathways, pain management, quality improvement, data management, patient education, rehab services and other criteria.
