Improving telephone follow-up after ambulatory surgery

The number of ambulatory surgery procedures performed annually is steadily increasing. Telephone follow-up of patients after ambulatory surgery remains an important component of care for ambulatory surgery patients. The purpose of this prospective quality improvement project was to obtain a more comprehensive telephone follow-up of ambulatory surgery patients in a large metropolitan medical center. During a 3 month evaluation period, 485 patients (61% of a convenience sample of 798 who had undergone an ambulatory surgical procedure) were interviewed to determine the incidence of side effects and elicit patient satisfaction. Postoperative side effects reported most frequently included pain, bleeding, nausea, dizziness, and fever. A majority of patients reported receiving adequate discharge instructions and excellent nursing care. This quality improvement project initiated by staff nurses resulted in changes in the procedure for documenting postoperative phone assessments from narrative notes to the use of a semistructured form for telephone follow-up after ambulatory surgery.