Knee replacement:

You will spend three days in the hospital. The day of surgery is the first day in this regard. On this first day we start practicing your daily actions and movements. This will continue on the second day. On the third day, discharge is prepared and you can return home in the early afternoon.

Hip replacement:

You will spend two days in the hospital. The day of surgery is the first day here. On this first day we will start practicing your daily actions and movements. On the second day, discharge will be prepared and you will be able to go home in the early afternoon.

A (near) incident is an unintended event during the care process that (just did not) lead to, could have led to or could still lead to harm to the patient as a result of a medical act, hospitalization or medical examination.

In the event of an incident or near incident you (or your representative, confidant or loved one) can contact the person(s) involved directly or you can contact the quality department.  (kwaliteit@stzh.be).

Through incident analysis, the quality department aims to improve the quality of care and increase the service and attractiveness of the hospital.

A complaint in our context is an expression of dissatisfaction or a request for information or clarification from a patient (his family, confidant or representative) regarding the provision of care. Thus, questions, concerns, complaints, comments, reactions, conflicts, disagreements and other dilemmas fall under complaints. The right to complain is defined in Article 11 of the patient rights (Aug. 22, 2002). You can raise your complaint directly with the person concerned or contact the ombudsperson.

It is very important to know that you can go to a hospital's ombudsperson in complete confidence.

The attitude and tasks of the ombudsperson:

• is neutral, does not take a stand and does not judge who is right or wrong
• works independently of hospital management
• handles every complaint confidentially and is bound by professional confidentiality
• promotes communication between patient and health care provider
• does not resolve the reported problems by him- or herself but tries to reach a solution through mediation
• informs the patient of other options if no solution is reached
• records all reports of complaints and formulates recommendations to hospital management to prevent the recurrence of complaints

A family member or other companion may accompany you to the entrance of the nuclear medicine department. They can wait for you in the waiting room or in the hospital cafeteria*.

Exceptions may be allowed for companions of children and disabled persons. It s best to discuss this in advance with the nuclear medicine team.
* Unless other measures for visitors are communicated.

After the examination, the radioactive substance remains in your body for a few hours, so you emit minimal radiation. In order not to unnecessarily expose people around you to radiation, it is important that you follow these guidelines.

• Radiation decreases significantly with distance. On the day of the examination, it's best to keep an arm's length distance from other people. It is best to hold small children as little as possible on the day of the study (do not take them on your lap, have another family member take care of them, etc.).

• You can continue your work without any problems. If you come into contact with radioactivity during your work, be sure to report it to the doctor.

• If possible, it's best to drink as much water as possible after the administration of the radioactive substance. This will cause the substance to be excreted more quickly through the urine.

• The minimal radiation that you emit is harmless in itself, but may activate certain detection devices, such as airport checkpoints. Keep this in mind if you were to leave on a trip shortly after treatment.

• Avoid direct contact with excretory products (urine, stool, vomit and blood). Use disposable gloves if necessary. 

If you must undergo an examination at the nuclear medicine department, you must follow a number of guidelines.

• You are allowed to eat and drink as usual before and after the administration of the radioactive substance, unless we specifically ask you to remain sober.
• If you are pregnant, or suspect you are pregnant, notify the doctor immediately. It is important that you report this before administering the radioactive substance.
• If you are breastfeeding, notify the doctor immediately. For some examinations, we recommend that you do not breastfeed for a short period after the examination.
• Most of the time you don't have to undress for the examination. It is best to remove metal objects (e.g. jewelry). These can interfere with the examination.
• Please be present on time.

If you are, unexpectedly, unable to attend and cannot keep your appointment, please notify the nuclear medicine department by phone (011 69 93 00). This will allow us to cancel the order for an expensive product.

Everyone is aware of the dangers of radioactivity. However, you may rest assured that all necessary radiation protection measures are taken during a nuclear examination. The amount of radiation that you receive is small and is strictly controlled and measured with instruments that are checked very regularly. The amount injected is in accordance with internationally acceptable standards. The radiation is comparable to classical radiography (RX).

The time between administration and the final examination depends on the organ to be examined. It can range from a few minutes to several hours. Sometimes an examination takes one or several days. This time is required for the product to get to the desired organ and accumulate there before the image can be recorded. The recording of the images takes 15 minutes to 1 hour. If the examination takes a long time or multiple images need to be taken, we do this to get the best possible image.