ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the author's initial experiences with the first 10 cases of patients that underwent ambulatory elective hip replacement surgery, so-called hip in a day. The patient receives a bed in the day ward. Routine preop prep is performed as for all patients, and the patient is brought into the operating room, where he or she is placed into the necessary position and anaesthesia is administered. In general, energy supply plays a major role overall in the outpatient postop rehabilitation. If everything is tolerated well, the patient can be discharged by the surgeon and the physical therapist jointly. The outpatient follow-up check-ups as well as follow-up physical therapy are arranged prior to the surgery date. Patient training includes a multidisciplinary approach consisting of the following professionals in a predetermined sequence: the orthopaedic surgeon, the anaesthesiologist, physical therapist, station desk personnel, physician assistant or nurse, medical supplies store representative and the social service worker.
