The hip and knee program at Mount Sinai Beth Israel in New York City is shining these days, having just earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval for Advanced Certification for Total Hip and Total Knee Replacement. This is the only hospital in New York City to receive this certification for an orthopedic program.
Peter McCann, M.D., chair, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Mount Sinai Beth Israel; Professor, Orthopaedics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told OTW, “Our certification review with The Joint Commission in July lasted four days. The advanced certification was a two-day review process and our recertification reviews for Spinal Fusion and Total Shoulder replacement were one day each. The process was stressful to say the least, but it took a fantastic, well put together team to achieve this great honor. The review may have occurred in July, but the preparation process for it began almost a year beforehand.
“The process began with an opening presentation in which our orthopedic team was introduced to our reviewer and I gave a presentation on our achievements and success over the last two years. The review continued with closed chart reviews in which multiple aspects of patient records were checked for Joint Commission standards of care. Then the active patient observation followed, including visiting the PACU and OR, talking to current patients on the floor, and evaluating staff interactions with patients. Another important part of the process was the employee record review. All employees that came in contact with the patient had to be evaluated for current licenses/certifications, timely performance evaluations, and documented education specific to the orthopedic patient. This entire process was a team effort, and our success during this review is a reflection of the outstanding staff that we have here in the orthopedics department.”
As for the type of initiatives they have in place to assure pain management and mobility, Dr. McCann, emeritus editor-in-chief of The American Journal of Orthopedics, commented to OTW, “We continually monitor patient pain management and mobility for The Joint Commission. Every month we conduct a patient discharge survey, in which one question is, ‘Did you feel your pain was well managed?’ Consistently, we achieve 90% or greater satisfaction on this standard and we are looking forward to reaching an even higher satisfaction in the future. In addition, we monitor whether the patient is out of bed within 12 hours of arrival to the floor. We monitor this to see attentiveness to patients as well as monitor early mobility. Early mobility is extremely beneficial to the recovery process, and we aim to have our patients get out of bed on the same day as surgery, per doctor’s orders.
“We have a great physical therapy team that works with the patients during their stay and monitor progress. There is a gym and multiple evaluation tools to make sure the patient is able to take care of themselves at home. We have the patients set their goals depending on their own personal home environment. If a patient has 12 stairs to get to their bedroom, then that is a key goal for them to work with physical therapy on.”
