Reducing Postoperative Call Volume Through Verbal Preoperative Education

Area of Science:

• Otolaryngology
• Patient Care Improvement
• Quality Improvement Initiatives

Background:

• Chronic ear surgery requires comprehensive patient understanding of the postoperative course.
• High patient call volume to otology clinics can strain resources.
• Improving patient satisfaction is a key goal in academic tertiary referral centers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of preoperative phone counseling on patient satisfaction and understanding after chronic ear surgery.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention in reducing otology clinic call volume.

Main Methods:

• A quality improvement initiative was conducted at a single academic tertiary referral center.
• One hundred and ten patients undergoing chronic ear surgery received preoperative phone counseling one week prior.
• Patient call volume, understanding, and satisfaction were measured within a two-week postoperative window.

Main Results:

• Patient satisfaction increased by 10.1% (p=0.0032) and understanding by 6.7% (p=0.0275) with preoperative counseling.
• Mean calls per patient decreased by 57.6% (p=0.0105), with 20% of patients calling vs. 46% without counseling.
• The intervention demonstrated statistically significant improvements across all measured outcomes.

Conclusions:

• Verbal preoperative counseling via phone is an effective strategy for enhancing patient experience.
• This approach significantly reduces unnecessary clinic call volume post-chronic ear surgery.
• The findings support the integration of preoperative counseling into standard otology clinic protocols.