 |
|
|
 |
| Research | |||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||
Pediatric Orthopaedic Discharge Instructions
After your child's surgery and hospital stay the doctor will write discharge orders. They are completed early in the morning the day of discharge. Sometimes they are completed the evening before.
Plan to be ready to go home by 10 AM the day of discharge.
Prior to this day please discuss with the social worker and the nursing staff if you need any equipment, school notes, visiting nurse or physical therapy referrals or an ambulance for transport. They can plan to have these in place before you leave the hospital.
At discharge you will receive a prescription for pain medicine. This should be taken as needed and after a couple of days you should be able to alternate the prescription medicine with Tylenol or Ibuprofen. If your child requires a liquid solution for pain medicine because they are unable to swallow pills, the liquid form of pain medicine may not be readily available at your local pharmacy, therefore, please have the prescription filled at a pharmacy near the hospital.
- Contact the doctor if after a few days the pain is not improving.
Soiled bandages/dressings will be changed prior to discharge. Often the new bandage may be left in place for 7-10 days after the surgery and then removed.
- Notify the doctor if there is a large amount of new drainage in the dressing or if the suture line is actively oozing after you are home.
- Showers, not baths, may begin in 7 to 10 days after surgery if the suture line is intact and not oozing.
Most sutures (stitches) are dissolvable and do not need to be removed. If your child has staples in place, plan to come back in two weeks to have them removed.
- Once the bandage is removed, check the suture line for any redness, swelling or drainage.
- Also check that your child does not have a fever (>101). Notify the doctor if a fever persists for longer than 24 hours.
Prior to leaving the hospital, call 212-305-4565 to make the follow-up appointment for the post-op visit. The doctor can let you know when you should return and if x-rays will need to be obtained.
Please call us if you have any questions or concerns.
Division of Pediatric Orthopaedics
Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York
3959 Broadway, 8th Floor
New York City 10032
phone 212-305-5475
fax 212-305-8271
|
|