Enhanced recovery and nurse-led telephone follow-up post surgery

Nurse-led telephone follow-up was undertaken for patients after major colorectal surgery on the enhanced recovery programme following their discharge, with the aim of ensuring they were provided with adequate advice and information to enable their recovery at home.

A total of 200 patients were prospectively called within 4 weeks of discharge home from hospital by the enhanced recovery nurse.

Diet was generally tolerated and mobility was continued at home. Many of the patients had seen a health professional since their discharge home for issues such as wound care or stoma review. Readmission rates were low and most concerns that patients reported were addressed during the telephone call.

It is reassuring that the majority of patients were coping well and many of the concerns reported were simply addressed over the telephone with advice. After the first 100 patients were telephoned, improvements were made to the discharge advice provided to the second 100 patients. The responses suggest that there were less community nurse visits in the second half of the patient cohort and this may be associated with changes made to discharge advice.

Patients continue to recover well once discharged home following colorectal surgery on the enhanced recovery pathway. Nurse-led telephone follow-up may be a suitable method for short-term follow-up and, potentially, it is also suitable for long-term follow-up of select groups of cancer patients.