A telephone survey of day-surgery eye patients

The objective of this research study was to evaluate the nursing care processes and patient satisfaction with the new day-surgery services. Forty-five adult day-surgery eye patients were selected at random to take part in a telephone survey. The response rate was 84.4% (38). Patients were contacted 48 hours post-surgery to obtain their view of the entire surgical experience. The research result found that the majority of the patients were satisfied with the day-surgery services. The main problems experienced by patients were long waiting times to see the doctor during pre-operation assessment, unsatisfactory journeys to and from theatre, and difficulty in remembering verbal advice. Twenty-eight (73.6%) of the day-surgery patients would prefer day-surgery again for a similar operation, but 10 (26.3%) would prefer a longer stay in hospital. The main implications for practice are that realistic assessment time should be allocated to reduce waiting time, verbal advice should be accompanied by written leaflets or audio-tape, and patients should be encouraged to make an informed choice about day or in-patient surgery. A regular survey of day-surgery eye patients should be part of a general audit.