If you’re looking at information related to heart surgery and recovery, chances are you’ve heard about heart pillows (also known as chest or cough pillows).
Heart Hugger provides sternum stabilization, allowing patients to avoid potential complications and a safe and early return to normal respiratory levels.
Complications after heart surgery are bad news for patients, but also for hospitals. Wound complications in a patient can be devastating financially for hospitals, especially when handling Medicare and co-morbid patients. The cost to hospitals can range from $13,000 to $100,000 per complication. Then add on the financial penalties that hospitals face for having excessive readmissions according to the 2010 Affordable Care Act. It’s evident that there is a great need to reduce the chances of complications following a patient’s surgery.
There is an ongoing discussion about how to best address the needs of patients who are recovering from heart surgery. With new technology, new medications, and continual anecdotal support for certain techniques, it’s no surprise that in our digital age there is a demand for more options and more evidence.
One type of post-op recovery support available is the Heart Hugger, a patient-operated harness that helps with pain management in addition to wound stability and sternal support.
Rib fractures are surprisingly common. Just like with every other bone, ribs can be fractured in multiple different ways, and the specifics are crucial in deciding treatment and care. Rib fractures can be uncomplicated, which means that the bone is broken in only one location, or complicated, which means that the ribs are broken in multiple locations or are extremely unstable. Because of the location and huge responsibility of the ribs themselves, even an uncomplicated rib fracture could lead to serious complications; internal chest bleeding, lung collapse, fluid accumulation, and countless other medical issues can arise. As a result, there are a few important things to consider when you have a fractured rib.
Open heart surgery is increasingly common, and although the procedure is used to solve many problems, it causes one big issue for all patients: pain. Luckily, with respiratory splinting, that big issue is getting demoted.
It is said that pain after a thoracotomy is among the most severe post-surgery pains--and it's likely that your patients would agree. You know just how much of an obstacle to healing pain can be, bringing obstacles and possible complications, but luckily, there are answers. With respiratory splinting, managing post-thoracotomy pain is easier than ever.
If you have cardiac or thoracic surgery planned in the near future, then you’re also going to have many questions concerning the procedure. What is the procedure going to be like? How long is the recovery time expected to be for a procedure like this? Your surgeon will be able to answer the majority of these questions, however, having never gone through the procedure themselves, it may prove difficult to explain how it feels to have a surgical wound.
In the year of 1988, the FDA classified Heart Hugger as a Class I Medical Device. The following year, Heart Hugger was Medicare Approved. Surgeons and patients alike have given their testimonials on how Heart Hugger has helped them.
How often do you think about breathing? Whenever we have difficulty breathing, it seems that's all we can think about. Luckily, with respiratory splinting, breathing can become easy and natural again if we've been suffering from pain.