Same Day Discharge Joint Replacement Program Begins at Bayfront Health St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg, FL (April 27, 2022)- Patients looking for an alternative to the traditional overnight stay at a hospital following joint replacement surgery, now have a new choice in Pinellas County. Recently, surgeons at Bayfront Health St. Petersburg began participating in the official startup of the same day discharge program for total joint replacement patients.

Seventy-seven-year-old Gary Kilner needed a left knee replacement. Surgery began early in the morning and Kilner was able to go home that afternoon. “The surgery was a success from pre-op to post-op” said Dr. George Canizares, MD, Orthopedic Surgery Specialist for Bayfront Health St. Petersburg. “Most importantly, this program is a huge patient satisfaction booster.”

Patients who take part in Bayfront Health St. Petersburg’s same day discharge joint replacement program get their own dedicated nurse for the day, a Total Joint Navigator who speaks with the patient ahead of time to make sure everything is set up for them to go home the same day and a custom boxed lunch.

“I’m an active person and I don’t like not being active. I would recommend this to people that are like me” said Kilner. “This is much quicker. I’m much happier that I am going to go home right away.”

“This is a great start to show our community that we have everything necessary in place to have a successful same day discharge program for total joint replacements” said John Moore, president, Bayfront Health St. Petersburg. “This was a total group effort and are looking forward to continued success of this program.”

With this program the patient is in contact with medical staff from before surgery, to follow up calls once they are home and recovering.

About Bayfront Health St. Petersburg

The 480-bed Bayfront Health St. Petersburg was founded in 1910. It was acquired October 1, 2020 by Orlando Health, a private, not-for-profit healthcare organization with $8 billion of assets under management. The hospital’s areas of clinical excellence include heart and vascular, surgical services, rehabilitation services, neurosciences, maternity care and – as home to the only state-accredited Level Two Adult Trauma Center in the St. Petersburg region – emergency services and trauma care.

Bayfront Health St. Petersburg is integral to the 3,200-bed Orlando Health system which serves the southeastern United States through 10 award-winning hospitals, 9 hospital based ERs, including Central Florida’s only Level I Trauma Center, and 7 free-standing emergency rooms; rehabilitation services, cancer and heart institutes, imaging and laboratory services, wound care centers, physician offices for adults and pediatrics, skilled nursing facilities, an in-patient behavioral health facility, home healthcare services in partnership with LHC Group, and urgent care centers in partnership with FastMed Urgent Care. More than 4,200 physicians, representing more than 100 medical specialties and subspecialties have privileges across the system, which employs more than 23,000 team members.

Orlando Health’s Graduate Medical Education (GME) program hosts more than 350 residents and fellows including more than 40 who are enrolled at Bayfront Health St. Petersburg’s OB/GYN, Family Medicine, Sports Medicine and Pharmacy programs.

In FY21, Orlando Health served more than 160,000 inpatients and 3.6 million outpatients. During that same time period, Orlando Health provided approximately ¬¬¬$648 million in total value to the communities it serves in the form of charity care, community benefit programs and services, community building activities and more. Additional information can be found at https://www.bayfrontstpete.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.