Clinical care map for the ambulatory laparoscopic cholecystectomy patient

Shortened hospital stays, expectations of quick recovery, and rapid turn-around times in surgical services challenge perioperative nurses to be creative and innovative providers of essential and appropriate patient education. Nurses need approaches that enable them to meet these challenges. One such approach is the adaptation of a clinical care map to the development of a perioperative patient care guide. This article describes the rationale behind the use of this approach and its application to the education of the patient undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Steps in the process are described. Nurses can use these steps to develop patient care guides suited to their specific practice setting.