I think 3 or 4 tomorrow in fact. The staples are removed (one half at a time) over the two following days. 3. shouldice provides hernia repair with a short hospital stay. The worst things said seem to be about the dcor of the hospital, the way the nurses and doctors treat you/pillows too small/beds like rubber etc. Success is defined by the patient as as good as new and somewhat differently by many surgeons, who would probably view that as unrealistic I am absolutely NOT suggesting a conspiracy but why mesh can be a problem is still not well understood. It was originally founded during World War 2 to allow for young men to have their hernias repaired before going off to fight. I did read the article. Founded in 1945, Shouldice Hospital is the world's leading centre of excellence in abdominal wall hernia repair. The trouble is he can barely walk with this baby between his legs. Choose your surgeon carefully. Should I wait or should I see a surgeon right away? In the Shouldice clinic, the average time off work after repair is 8 days, and 4 weeks is the maximum time patients are authorized to return to heavy labor. I had an inguinal hernia repair at Shouldice 4 days ago. Placed in a room with patient who had surgery the day prior. So yes, that is you, the taxpayer, footing the bill for unnecessary care being provided by a private company. Of course when people go there, they are concerning about the bumps that they have so, and they do not take hernias that are not obviously visible right at the time of surgery itself. First scheduled patients moved to pre-surgery prep. If I could go back Id take my chances on reoccurance hands down. As a surgeon with intimate knowledge of hernia repair, does the actual technique have a solid, anatomical basis and biological plausibility? It was then allowed special licence by the Ministry of Health to continue operating. On what basis do you make the claim that the media over-represents the risk? I had an inguinal (opposite side) and umbilical hernia repairs done using mesh two years ago. Now the Shouldice, a decades-old family business, is being sold to Centric Health Corp., a TSX-listed company that owns surgical and medical centres in four provinces, as well as pharmacies and home-care services. I think the most recent data is from 2012 and shows a higher failure rate at Shouldice than mesh. Those who react badly to mesh most are apparently young, slim females (usually not Inguinal). Very interesting. If someone has a hernia surgery at one hospital and then develops a complication they could easily end up at the emergency department of some other hospital having the repair done by a completely different surgeon. But the reality is that in Ontario anyway, major hospitals are getting as bad as any private clinic in letting cost considerations trump quality of patient care, but thats a whole other topic. I find it hard to get solid information of one method vs the other, maybe because there really isnt any. We know that asking patients about their satisfaction with their care has nothing to do with the quality of care provided. Hi, I am the diabetic obese patient with an abdominal hernia. Sounds like he needs a repair, although you dont need to worry about blood supply usually. Does it annoy surgeons that many many *easy* abortions are done in clinics rather than hospitals? We regret that we cannot make reservations on your behalf. I play sports 3 days a week, I run competitively, etc, and virtually no pain. Most of the arguments against Shouldice here seem to have very little to do with the actual technique, pain afterwards or recurrence (irritation, I thought, at the Southfork-like set-up and possibly also at their very existence fuelling endless questions like mine: is mesh a problem or isnt it? There are some awful stories out there. Affiliation 1 Anna Bradshaw is an FNP student at . Prior to your visit, you are encouraged to complete and submit aMedical Questionnaire on my.shouldice.com. A version of this commentary appeared in the Vancouver Sun, Huffington Post and iPolitics.ca. I honestly cannot recall the last time I admitted a patient the night before surgery, except when I was a clinical clerk, and that is going back a long time now. Sheraton Parkway600 Highway 7Richmond Hill, Ontario905-881-21211-800-668-0101Call hotel for special Shouldice rate.2.5 miles from the hospital. Patients are required to be within 20 % of their ideal body weight, and are refused surgery at the Shouldice if they do not meet this criteria or lose the weight. .One year after this major Shouldice surgery in MAJOR pain EVERY day and night I NOW look like a fucking mutant due to their amazing technique over there at Shouldice and to no email at least 15 trips back there and numerous emergency visits and NO family doctor. It was originally founded during World War 2 to allow for young men to have their hernias repaired before going off to fight. I hear that the wait time is up to a few years for the surgery itself. They dont call it the Shouldice Experience for nothing. However, it is also undeniable that the chance of a hernia recurring over time is reduced when mesh is utilized appropriately and on the right patient. Shouldice Hospital is not responsible for these services. In this respect, mesh in the future could still have a place but as a last resort rather than the first thing the surgeon grabs! You share good times with the people you meet there. The standard of care now is to do hernia repairs with mesh, a plastic like substance which allows for less pain (if inserted properly), earlier return to work, and decreased recurrence rates. Sorry your husband had such a tough time with his hernia, hope he is doing well now. I seem to be a good candidate for pure tissue. For over 75 years the Surgeons and staff of Shouldice Hospital have dedicated themselves to repairing abdominal wall hernias; it's all we do, having performed over 400,000 successful hernia repairs using our natural tissue technique without the use of surgical mesh and its serious complications. I would imagine a lot of people wouldnt go back to someone who wasnt successful with their surgery the first time unless it was very minor surgery. Standard rubberized hospital bed and pillow. It is very painful to walk, stand, cough, sneeze, laugh, use the washroom in any capacity and expect from the bruising that this will carry on for atleast another week. Therefore, it would be more destructive to attempt to accommodate greater numbers of patients at the expense of the quality of either care or facilities. In assessing them, serious consideration has to be given to the culture of the organization and the importance of preserving it in a service delivery system. The Shouldice Hospital has been a family-run private enterprise since its founding in 1945 by Dr. Edward Shouldice, who developed a reliable technique for repairing hernias during World War II.. I love doing a variety of different procedures in patients of all ages, sexes, shapes and sizes. York Region Transit. They say Im an unusual case, but 2 years after having an inguinal hernia repaired at Shouldice I am still suffering from nerves entangled in scar tissue. Maybe if its a simple small hernia, Shouldice is a good choice, but otherwise, too clandestine for healthcare. And yes, Shouldice cherrypicks their cases, perhaps because they can. More and more often, hes having flare ups where the blood supply to his groin is being blocked. Shouldice Hospital is a great place to work. Surgeons get really angry when people are allowed to do elective surgeries without providing on call services, which is essentially what the Shouldice is doing. In speaking with their surgeons, they are looking to have their technique more widely adopted and have recently had visiting doctors from the UK and are making efforts to have the technique more widely known. Open. I am handicapped and must wear an orthosis when horizontal (supine) for a cervical spine condition which I have had debilitating symptoms for twenty-two years. Dr. Shouldice graduated from the Univ of Ottawa Fac of Med,Univ of Ottawa Fac of Med in 1979. A friend of mine had the mesh technique and it resulted in a tumour growth that was quite complicated to resolve. But the patient should be made clear of the longstanding post-op, well documented issues of the real probability of chronic pain. Reading your comments put some things into perspective for me. Toronto Transit. Pick a curve, any curve (say, the red one). Sexual activity causes no issues and my testicles are no longer sensitive. Without insurance, an open hernia surgery is easily $20,000+ if not more in the states. Thanks. Yes, Im not overweight, which helps, but others that had lost weight for their surgery I kept in touch with had great things to say about their experience as well. Not only are metrics regarding the likelihood to recommend and the overall satisfaction with the experience negatively impacted by longer wait times, but increased wait times also affect perceptions of information, instructions, and the overall treatment provided by physicians and other caregivers. No public hospital in Ontario would be keeping groin hernia repair patients in hospital overnight without some underlying compelling reason. The first time I was sick with a high white blood cell count and they send me back home this was 5 years ago, 3 years ago I tried again and this time I had diabetes and they told me to go back home on the day of the surgery because I was coughing too much, the reason I was coughing was because of Ramipril a HBP medication. There are certainly many issues to be factored in but as a patient my number 1 concern will always be having surgeons working in environments that are conducive to producing good outcomes for patients and I have not yet seen any convincing arguments for disallowing the development of specialties though I do have concerns about the influence of profit as a motivating factor. 1/2-5/8 of flesh mounded above the underlying muscular tissue fix. Im not happy about Shouldice being sold to a private company but I do not see that your critique of their prior history is based on any accurate or well-analysed information. Shouldice Hospital is a bit of curious place. Its not hard to understand whats happening here. Have had it checked and been informed that it is not at the point where a repair is required. I will stop by here at the 6 month point to provide another update. You see the full range of personalities there. Hernias of all sizes can be repaired without mesh, but as a surgeon it is frustrating to repair a hernia without mesh in a patient you know has almost 100 % risk of recurrence in their lifetimes. Ive contacted Shouldice and would much rather prefer not having a foreign object inside of me, especially given that this is my first ever surgery. Same in the US. Seventy years of existence can be touted as a measure of success and justification for the status quo Smith-Corona felt the same way about the typewriter. I would also, I hope, be getting angry calls from our hospitals administrators asking what the hell I was doing keeping patients in hospital for so long after such a simple procedure. Complications after a mesh surgery can drive the cost of a simple hernia repair into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. I know Shouldice will also cost me more than getting the mesh procedure done in-network here in the US but I feel that at least Ill be giving myself a chance of not exposing myself to a permanently inserted foregin object. I would ask your family doctor for a referral to a general surgeon who does hernias from incisions to discuss the pros and cons of a repair in your situation. Poor nights sleep (roommate having pain, snoring, up through the night for pain meds, temperature check by nurse at some point, etc). This was a very informative post. Having said that, the risk of recurrence is much higher with umbilical and epigastric hernias in pregnancy than with groin hernias. Just want to make a correction: they dont provide private rooms, but cramp you in a room with another person. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Not true.If they Identify an Hernia with no bump, they will ask for repair it.