Narcotic use
We are providing this information to you to serve as a guide through your pre- and post-op process. Your particular journey may involve many or none of these steps. At UNOVA Hip & Knee Center, we strive to personalize each patient experience, we understand that every patient we encounter is an individual with unique concerns. This content is not meant to be used to diagnose or treat any medical condition, those decisions should only be made after consultation with your treating surgeon and primary care physician.
The opioid epidemic is a serious national concern. Recent changes to the federal guidelines for narcotic prescribing have set limits on the amount of narcotic medication that can be prescribed in the post-operative period.
YOU MUST STOP ALL NARCOTIC PAIN MEDICATION USE PRIOR TO YOUR SURGERY. Any pre-op narcotic use will need to be managed by a pain management physician. Your pain management physician will be responsible for managing and prescribing your narcotic pain medication after surgery. We will need documentation from your pain management physician stating they will manage your post-op narcotic pain prescriptions.
FAILURE TO PRODUCE THE DOCUMENTATION IN THE FORM OF A LETTER FROM YOUR PAIN MANAGEMENT PHYSICIAN WILL CONSTITUTE A HARD STOP.
Pre-op pain
Your pain management in the peri and post-operative periods surrounding your surgery is something your team at UNOVA Hip & Knee Center take very seriously.
Your UNOVA team has spent many years perfecting their multi-modal pain management program:
Developed proprietary regional block techniques for both Partial and Total Knee Replacement surgery.
Developed and introduced the first Opioid-Free Anesthesia program for Total Hip and Knee Replacements in the region. This aids in reducing any potential changes in our patient’s mental acuity post-operatively, allowing our patients to immediately engage in therapy in the recovery room.
Perfected our use of minimally-invasive approaches to the hip and knee that preserve tendons, ligaments, and muscles which have resulted in our ability to greatly reduce our post-surgical pain profiles. This allows our patients to utilize our express recovery process.
You will be asked to answer 13 questions on your intake called a PCS survey, these questions are related to how well you manage your pain. Should your answers score greater than 30, we will have you see a clinical specialist specifically trained in pain-coping mechanisms. The specialist will train you in techniques that will give you the tools necessary to participate fully in your post-operative rehabilitation to ensure that we achieve our desired outcome.