Proactive intervention in total knee replacements from the Health Social Work Department at the Germans Trias I Pujol University Hospital in Badalona

Abstract

The knee artrosis is one of the diseases associated with the aging of higher prevalence. Causes pain, swelling, functional impotence and rigidity, and in advanced stages does not respond to pharmacological treatments and precise surgery. There is a qualitative research whose goal is to identify the information needs and attention in patients that have to be operated on for Total Knee prosthesis in order to lessen the impact of the surgery and allow for adequate staff reorganization and family, and thus to be able to validate the incorporation of the social worker health in the process.

To do this are carried out interviews with patients before and during the process of knee surgery, and parallel interview to the healthcare professionals involved. The results obtained showed that the patients have difficulties in understanding the technical language of some of the professionals, although his greatest concern is related to the pain and complications of the surgery. Loss of mobility difficulties involves only the high in patients who live alone or do with people who work outside the home, so that the proactive intervention health social worker shall be submitted to the population profile.