Hotline to Helpline: Reducing On-call Demands.

Area of Science:

• Plastic Surgery
• Healthcare Management
• Patient Education

Background:

• Societal shift viewing plastic surgery as a commodity, not healthcare.
• Observed overuse of after-hours emergency call lines by patients.
• Need to address patient behavior regarding nonurgent post-operative concerns.

Purpose of the Study:

• To reduce nonurgent after-hours calls in a private plastic surgery practice.
• To educate patients on appropriate use of emergency services.
• To improve patient outcomes through better management of post-operative concerns.

Main Methods:

• Six-month preintervention data collection on after-hours calls.
• Implementation of enhanced preoperative patient education.
• Introduction of in-office protocols for timely provider responses.

Main Results:

• A 22% significant reduction in total after-hours calls (P = 0.007).
• Significant decrease in nonurgent calls (P = 0.005), particularly for swelling/bruising/discomfort.
• No significant change in emergent calls (P = 0.56) or pain/drain-related calls.

Conclusions:

• Targeted preoperative education and real-time office support reduce after-hours call volume.
• Improved patient education positively impacts after-hours call usage.
• Early identification of urgent issues can be facilitated, improving patient outcomes.