Contacting patients before surgery cuts cancellations in half

Cancelling a preplanned surgery, especially in ambulatory care, costs hospitals money and resources and wastes time. A recent study, published in AORN, looked at how contacting patients by phone before surgery can reduce the number of cancelations.

In ambulatory surgical centers, where only scheduled elective procedures are done, canceling a surgery at the last minute uses resources and leaves open the time allocated for the procedure. The study tested the implementation of a Nurse-Patient Preoperative Call Log in its effectiveness in reducing the number of canceled surgeries. The call log involved nurses contacting patients or their guardians two separate times in the two weeks before the scheduled surgery. Nurses would review a patient’s health history, review instructions for before the procedure and answer any questions from the patient.

The study, conducted with pediatric surgical patients at an ambulatory surgery center, analyzed outcomes from the implementation of the call log and three months after. Results showed that the call log reduced surgery cancelations from 16.8 percent to 8.8 percent, with 85.6 percent of nurses being able to call patients at least twice in the two weeks before surgery.