Wear and tear or trauma can send you to an orthopedic specialist. ECMC Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine has a skilled team of professionals to help you through all phases— from diagnosis through treatment and recovery.
Dr. Phillip Stegemman, Chief of Service in Orthopaedics, discusses care available at ECMC Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine.
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Orthopaedics for Trauma or Wear & Tear
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Learn more about Philip Stegemann, MD
Philip Stegemann, MD
Philip Stegemann, MD is the chief of orthopedics at ECMC, where he focuses on non-surgical orthopedic care. In this role, he brings his insights as a former surgeon, with experience in total shoulder replacement, rotator cuff repair, shoulder reconstruction, general orthopedics, and trauma. Board certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery, his approach emphasizes personalized attention to diagnosis, decision making, treatment, and surgical referrals.Learn more about Philip Stegemann, MD
Transcription:
Bill Klaproth (Host): From many things that include daily activities to sports to occupational injuries to degenerative conditions all may lead you to an orthopedic surgeon or sports medicine specialist. So what do they do, and how can they help you? Here to talk about ECMC Orthopedics and Sports Medicine is Dr. Philip Stegemann, Chief of Service, and an orthopedic surgeon at Erie County Medical Center. Dr. Stegemann, thank you so much for your time. Can you first off tell us about orthopedics at ECMC?
Dr. Philip Stegemann, MD (Guest): Orthopedics at ECMC is- we're one of the major players in this hospital. Almost, I would say, close to 50% of all surgeries done at this hospital are orthopedics related, and those surgeries and the patients we see can kind of be broken up into two different groups. One would be the trauma patient, we're a level one trauma center, and that involves major injuries throughout all Western New York.
And then the other type of patient we see is a person who doesn't have trauma but rather has orthopedic routine injuries or orthopedic degenerative problems such as arthritis or tears in tendons. So the patients are really broken up into trauma patients and then non-trauma patients.
Bill: So let's stick with the trauma patients. If you find yourself in the ER with a major injury, what happens? What is the process or plan of action of care?
Dr. Stegemann: Well at a level one trauma center, it's a team approach; there's multiple teams. Say you were in a bad car accident, if someone was brought in by Mercy Flight or so, there'd be multiple teams. The first team would be the general surgery trauma team and right away determine if you have life-threatening injuries, and there's a whole protocol that we follow. The orthopedic doctors are involved in that.
You know, once we find out what kind of orthopedic injuries you have and how that fits into lifesaving procedures, then we determine do you need lifesaving orthopedic and trauma surgery, or can that wait until maybe the next day? Obviously if you do have emergency lifesaving procedures that are needed, those are done right away.
What we have here, is we have a residency training program, so we have residents, chief residents, first and second year residents in the emergency room along with the attendings. And then next morning after a busy night, we review all the cases that are done, and at that meeting the next morning, we have probably six board certified orthopedic surgeons there, and we have all our residents and medical students, and we discuss every single case to find out what's the best treatment.
So it's a very comprehensive care that people get when they come through the emergency room. Some of it's done immediately, and then other things are done later on the next day or the following day depending on the type of injury they have.
Bill: And then for the non-major trauma patients, those from general aging to wear and tear to arthritis, what types of orthopedic care do you offer at ECMC? And what is the treatment process?
Dr. Stegemann: What we have here at this hospital are Centers of Excellence. So we have experts in trauma, we have experts in shoulder and elbow, we have experts in foot and ankle surgery, degenerative changes in the ankle or tendon problems in the ankle. We also have a very active spine center here with several orthopedic surgeons being involved almost exclusively with patients with spine problems. And that involves spine trauma but also spine reconstructive surgeries. We have adult reconstructive surgery. What we mean by that is people who need total hips and total knees, a very robust service. We also have experts in hand. People who have hand problems, maybe tendon problems with their hands or carpal tunnel surgeries.
So the whole gamut of orthopedic care for the non-trauma patients, and the trauma patients, we have experts in all the parts of orthopedics.
Bill: So if you do require surgery, where does that take place at ECMC?
Dr. Stegemann: Well ECMC is a pretty big hospital. We have two types of facilities for surgery. One is the inpatient, these are patients that require usually an overnight stay or longer in the hospital. So those are the inpatient surgical patients.
And then several years ago, an ambulatory center was built. It's connected to the hospital but separate, and that's a facility that does ambulatory surgery. Those are surgeries where you come in, have the surgery, and then go home the same day. Those surgeries don't require an overnight stay in the hospital. And both those facilities are utilized on a daily basis and are quite busy.
Bill: And what about recovery and post-op support available at ECMC?
Dr. Stegemann: Post-op support would be- well, I guess we have here in the hospital, in order to go home, we have extensive physical therapy programs, we have social workers, we have discharge planners that kind of facilitate your discharge so that when you do go home, you feel comfortable that you're able to handle your home environment.
We have orthopedic clinics here on a daily basis where we see post-op patients. And so I think obviously people can go home when they're ready to go home, and on a national average we actually get patients out of the hospital orthopedically- from orthopedic procedures about a day ahead of the national average. So we have a very extensive discharge planning program.
Bill: And Dr. Stegemann, when it comes to non-surgical treatment options, can you talk about what's available at ECMC?
Dr. Stegemann: Well actually in orthopedics, most patients don't require surgery unless they have some type of trauma. But most patients that come through our offices don't require surgery, they require a diagnosis, and then that can often be treated non-surgically in a physical therapy program, understanding what's causing their problem, it may be modifying their activities. We do use some medications that can reduce inflammation, and oftentimes time heals a lot of injuries. So you know, orthopedic surgery is not always surgery. A lot of people can be treated non-operatively.
Bill: Physical therapy really is a wonder and really can really help people regain a lot of motion and reduce pain. That first step, that physical therapy really is important, and can be very effective. Is that right?
Dr. Stegemann: That is right, and we- the orthopedic teams here work very extensively with our physical therapists. We actually speak with them on a daily basis, oftentimes can bring a therapist right to the office and have them meet a patient. It's a linked in cooperation between the orthopedic department and the physical therapy department.
Bill: And if you could wrap it up for us, Dr. Stegemann. Anything else we should know about ECMC Orthopedics and Sports Medicine?
Dr. Stegemann: I know ECMC has changed a lot over the years, I think the perception of this hospital has changed a lot over the years. What really hasn't changed though is how we have treated patients. I've been at ECMC my entire career, thirty years. It's very rewarding to see now how ECMC is viewed in the public eye, and I think people are starting to realize the great orthopedic care they've always gotten here, but now it's getting to be known.
Bill: Well that's wonderful information, and thanks so much for talking with us today, Dr. Stegemann, we appreciate it. For more information on ECMC Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, please visit www.ECMC.edu. That's www.ECMC.edu. This is the True Care HealthCast from Erie County Medical Center. I'm Bill Klaproth, thanks for listening.
Bill Klaproth (Host): From many things that include daily activities to sports to occupational injuries to degenerative conditions all may lead you to an orthopedic surgeon or sports medicine specialist. So what do they do, and how can they help you? Here to talk about ECMC Orthopedics and Sports Medicine is Dr. Philip Stegemann, Chief of Service, and an orthopedic surgeon at Erie County Medical Center. Dr. Stegemann, thank you so much for your time. Can you first off tell us about orthopedics at ECMC?
Dr. Philip Stegemann, MD (Guest): Orthopedics at ECMC is- we're one of the major players in this hospital. Almost, I would say, close to 50% of all surgeries done at this hospital are orthopedics related, and those surgeries and the patients we see can kind of be broken up into two different groups. One would be the trauma patient, we're a level one trauma center, and that involves major injuries throughout all Western New York.
And then the other type of patient we see is a person who doesn't have trauma but rather has orthopedic routine injuries or orthopedic degenerative problems such as arthritis or tears in tendons. So the patients are really broken up into trauma patients and then non-trauma patients.
Bill: So let's stick with the trauma patients. If you find yourself in the ER with a major injury, what happens? What is the process or plan of action of care?
Dr. Stegemann: Well at a level one trauma center, it's a team approach; there's multiple teams. Say you were in a bad car accident, if someone was brought in by Mercy Flight or so, there'd be multiple teams. The first team would be the general surgery trauma team and right away determine if you have life-threatening injuries, and there's a whole protocol that we follow. The orthopedic doctors are involved in that.
You know, once we find out what kind of orthopedic injuries you have and how that fits into lifesaving procedures, then we determine do you need lifesaving orthopedic and trauma surgery, or can that wait until maybe the next day? Obviously if you do have emergency lifesaving procedures that are needed, those are done right away.
What we have here, is we have a residency training program, so we have residents, chief residents, first and second year residents in the emergency room along with the attendings. And then next morning after a busy night, we review all the cases that are done, and at that meeting the next morning, we have probably six board certified orthopedic surgeons there, and we have all our residents and medical students, and we discuss every single case to find out what's the best treatment.
So it's a very comprehensive care that people get when they come through the emergency room. Some of it's done immediately, and then other things are done later on the next day or the following day depending on the type of injury they have.
Bill: And then for the non-major trauma patients, those from general aging to wear and tear to arthritis, what types of orthopedic care do you offer at ECMC? And what is the treatment process?
Dr. Stegemann: What we have here at this hospital are Centers of Excellence. So we have experts in trauma, we have experts in shoulder and elbow, we have experts in foot and ankle surgery, degenerative changes in the ankle or tendon problems in the ankle. We also have a very active spine center here with several orthopedic surgeons being involved almost exclusively with patients with spine problems. And that involves spine trauma but also spine reconstructive surgeries. We have adult reconstructive surgery. What we mean by that is people who need total hips and total knees, a very robust service. We also have experts in hand. People who have hand problems, maybe tendon problems with their hands or carpal tunnel surgeries.
So the whole gamut of orthopedic care for the non-trauma patients, and the trauma patients, we have experts in all the parts of orthopedics.
Bill: So if you do require surgery, where does that take place at ECMC?
Dr. Stegemann: Well ECMC is a pretty big hospital. We have two types of facilities for surgery. One is the inpatient, these are patients that require usually an overnight stay or longer in the hospital. So those are the inpatient surgical patients.
And then several years ago, an ambulatory center was built. It's connected to the hospital but separate, and that's a facility that does ambulatory surgery. Those are surgeries where you come in, have the surgery, and then go home the same day. Those surgeries don't require an overnight stay in the hospital. And both those facilities are utilized on a daily basis and are quite busy.
Bill: And what about recovery and post-op support available at ECMC?
Dr. Stegemann: Post-op support would be- well, I guess we have here in the hospital, in order to go home, we have extensive physical therapy programs, we have social workers, we have discharge planners that kind of facilitate your discharge so that when you do go home, you feel comfortable that you're able to handle your home environment.
We have orthopedic clinics here on a daily basis where we see post-op patients. And so I think obviously people can go home when they're ready to go home, and on a national average we actually get patients out of the hospital orthopedically- from orthopedic procedures about a day ahead of the national average. So we have a very extensive discharge planning program.
Bill: And Dr. Stegemann, when it comes to non-surgical treatment options, can you talk about what's available at ECMC?
Dr. Stegemann: Well actually in orthopedics, most patients don't require surgery unless they have some type of trauma. But most patients that come through our offices don't require surgery, they require a diagnosis, and then that can often be treated non-surgically in a physical therapy program, understanding what's causing their problem, it may be modifying their activities. We do use some medications that can reduce inflammation, and oftentimes time heals a lot of injuries. So you know, orthopedic surgery is not always surgery. A lot of people can be treated non-operatively.
Bill: Physical therapy really is a wonder and really can really help people regain a lot of motion and reduce pain. That first step, that physical therapy really is important, and can be very effective. Is that right?
Dr. Stegemann: That is right, and we- the orthopedic teams here work very extensively with our physical therapists. We actually speak with them on a daily basis, oftentimes can bring a therapist right to the office and have them meet a patient. It's a linked in cooperation between the orthopedic department and the physical therapy department.
Bill: And if you could wrap it up for us, Dr. Stegemann. Anything else we should know about ECMC Orthopedics and Sports Medicine?
Dr. Stegemann: I know ECMC has changed a lot over the years, I think the perception of this hospital has changed a lot over the years. What really hasn't changed though is how we have treated patients. I've been at ECMC my entire career, thirty years. It's very rewarding to see now how ECMC is viewed in the public eye, and I think people are starting to realize the great orthopedic care they've always gotten here, but now it's getting to be known.
Bill: Well that's wonderful information, and thanks so much for talking with us today, Dr. Stegemann, we appreciate it. For more information on ECMC Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, please visit www.ECMC.edu. That's www.ECMC.edu. This is the True Care HealthCast from Erie County Medical Center. I'm Bill Klaproth, thanks for listening.