New Shoulder In A Day

(NBC NEWS) Some surgeons are now doing out-patient procedures for joint-replacement surgeries, eliminating the need for a several-day hospital stay.

“I was in pain daily. When it started to interrupt my sleep, when I wasn’t getting more than an hour or so of sleep without having to get up and move around a bit, I decided it was time,” patient Kim Burke says.

It was time to get her shoulder replaced, which was something her doctor told her was inevitable with osteoarthritis, but Burke held off because she did not like the idea of major surgery.

Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Jason Stein specializes in joint replacement. Stein did Burke’s surgery earlier this year and she is the first patient he did outpatient shoulder surgery on.

Video of later that day shows Burke leaving, even smiling when the surgery is over. Not many surgeons are doing the procedure out-patient.

“When the surgery is done faster efficiently, patients have a lot less pain afterwards. So, I think we’ve just gotten better at that, which has allowed patients to get out,” Dr. Stein says.