The patient/caregiver was educated on findings to watch for and report to the physician after knee replacement surgery as follows:
Signs and symptoms of pulmonary emboli:
- The blood clot or thrombus formed in the deep veins of the leg, if it were small enough, can travel up along the veins in the limb and get deposited in the lungs. These blood clots deposited in the lung are called pulmonary emboli.
- Deposition of the blood clot in the lung can result in sudden onset of chest pain, extreme shortness of breath, and dry cough.
- After knee replacement surgery, patients and caregivers must keep a close watch for any above-mentioned signs and symptoms of embolus formation and report to the physician at the earliest for measures to prevent further complications.
Uncontrolled pain and swelling:
- Pain and swelling in the surgical limb should progressively decline over 2 – 3 weeks after the surgery.
- Compliance with medications for pain control and therapy recommendations should add to the improvement in pain control.
- Uncontrolled pain and swelling in the limb, despite compliance with pain medication and therapy recommendations, can indicate an underlying serious complication like infection.
- Patients and caregivers must keep a close watch for poorly controlled or progressively worsening pain and swelling in the surgical joint and report to the physician for further management measures.
Progressively increasing rigidity in the joint:
- Range of motion in the joint should progressively improve over 3 – 6 months after the surgery.
- Compliance with the therapy recommendations is very essential towards meeting this goal.
- Any rigidity in the surgical joint, despite compliance with therapy recommendations must be reported to the physician for further investigation.
