Total Knee Replacement Research Paper

Total Knee Arthroplasty

My emotions were all over the place the night before preparing for the OR. I was worried about getting there on time, being able to find the OR, and most of all what surgery would I be observing. The morning of came very quickly and I was up and ready to go. When I first arrived to the OR tunnel my anxiety had come down a lot, and I seemed eager and ready to go. Once I got changed out into the OR scrubs, I then had the option to pick which surgery I wanted to observe. My decision was a TKA or total knee replacement. A total knee replacement is a surgical procedure where the joints in the knee is replaced with artificial metal plate in place of the knee joint, and a cement like base to hold the metal piece or prosthetic in place. The surgeon marks the incision across the knee for the procedure. After the cut is made the surgeon gets down to the bone, and remove what is no longer needed or the diseased part of the bone. With this being done the surgeon can place the metal piece where it fits. The cement base is used to hold this in place. The patella is then replaced, and any adjustments that may be needed are done. Before the incision is closed the surgeon will flex, bend, and extend then knee to …show more content…
The patient was covered up with only the affected leg exposed. While the procedure was ongoing the circulation nurse was responsible for documenting everything going on with the patient in regards to what medications was used, the patient’s vitals, and the supplies being used to perform the surgery. The nurse was responsible for documenting the client’s status from beginning to end. Casie was very careful with documenting because she explained that this was one of the most important parts of the procedure, because if it was not documented it did not