Teaching
& Outcomes
Turning Numbers into Patient Care
“My professional life is dedicated to making shoulders better. It's my passion. Because of this, we document how all our patients are doing before surgery and after surgery, both in the short term but also over the long term.”
For almost 20 years, our outcomes department has been collecting our outcomes data and I’ve been thoroughly involved in publishing and presenting that data at national and international conferences. My practice has one of the largest databases of total shoulder replacements in the country and possibly the world.
The reason we collect outcomes is to be transparent with our patients. People want to know what their outcomes are going to be. We feel a responsibility to share our outcomes because we understand the enormity of potentially undergoing complex surgery, a lengthy rehabilitation and disruption to everyday life. We also want to know if unique and new treatment methods are providing the desired outcome for our patients.
Because of our commitment to excellence and to maximizing our patient outcomes, we feel that our patients not only have the highest satisfaction rates with their care but also the highest level of outcomes in this modern era of shoulder surgery.
Shoulder Replacement Outcomes Metrics
Pain Results
The overwhelming majority of patients that come to see us before surgery are extremely dissatisfied with their pain. Following shoulder replacement our patients are 95% satisfied with their pain at rest and with activities.
Many of our patients are apprehensive about having shoulder surgery due to the misconception that shoulder surgery is very painful. When we look at our patients pain relief post-operatively, we found that 90% have little to no pain at rest at six weeks.
Sleeping After Treatment
A very common complaint of patients when they first visit us is that they can’t sleep due to nighttime pain. Our outcomes data shows that after treatment 94% of our patients can completely sleep through the night with little to no pain.
Teaching
Dr. Hatzidakis is extremely active in teaching other surgeons from across the country on the latest in complex shoulder techniques. Please visit our YouTube channel to watch educational videos from surgeries that Dr. Hatzidakis has performed to educated his peers.
Additionally, Dr. Hatzidakis and the Denver Shoulder Team have created the Western Orthopedic and Rose Medical Center Shoulder and Elbow Fellowship program which allows for an orthopedic surgeon to spend one year learning under the tutelage of the Denver Shoulder Team and help perform research to continue the advancement of shoulder care in the community.
Research
Dr. Hatzidakis is passionate about not just collecting data but also publishing his findings. Over the course of the past two decades Dr. Hatzidakis and his research team have been published in some of the largest, most respected orthopedic journals in the industry. Click below to read the latest publications from the Denver Shoulder Team.
Study 1: Rotator Cuff Outcomes
Study 2: Proximal Humeral Fracture Outcome of Minimally Invasive Treatment