Postoperative Instruction Retention, Written Versus Audiovisual Adjuncts: A Prospective Randomized Study

Adherence to postoperative protocols is an integral perioperative intervention that impacts surgical outcomes. The focus of this study was to identify the baseline postoperative instruction retention of our traditional written format and compare that with the retention when using an audiovisual adjunct. We hypothesize that the addition of audiovisual adjuncts would result in greater patient retention of their postoperative instructions.

Sixty consecutive adult patients undergoing soft tissue procedures of the hand and wrist were enrolled prospectively at a single institution. Patients were randomized to receive postoperative instructions with either a written or an audiovisual adjunct format. Two days after surgery, a blinded investigator contacted the participants to administer a standardized phone questionnaire. Responses were recorded, and the data were analyzed by another blinded team member. Analysis was performed using χ ² and Student t tests as appropriate.

Fifty patients were included in the final analysis. The written group scored an average retention of 80%, whereas the audiovisual group showed a retention score of 85%. Demographic analysis of men versus women, and patients <60 versus >60 years of age did not demonstrate significant score differences. The subgroup analysis of patients receiving local anesthesia alone demonstrated significantly higher rates of percent correct and perfect recall in the audiovisual compared with the written-only group (87.5 vs 80.5 and 44% vs 7%, respectively).

For patients undergoing common soft tissue procedures of the hand, the addition of audiovisual supplementation to written instructions, especially in those undergoing wide awake, local anesthesia, no tourniquet procedures, is associated with higher rates of retention of a patient's postoperative instructions. The specific improvement in the local anesthesia cohort is especially relevant today due to an increased prevalence of wide awake, local anesthesia, no tourniquet style procedures, and the increasing reliance on patient engagement in postoperative care.

Randomized control trial; Diagnostic Level 2b.