Publisher: Edinboro, Pa. : Edinboro University of Pennsylvania ; Clarion, Pa. : Clarion University of Pennsylvania
Publicaton Date: 2020
Format:
1 online resource (33 pages)
text file PDF
Description:
Patients presenting for surgical procedures must meet specific criteria in order to be deemed ready for surgery. Same-day surgical delays and cancellations often occur due to patients’ inability to follow preoperative instructions. The goal of this quality improvement project was to decrease the number of same-day surgical delay/cancellation occurrences due to patient nonadherence of preoperative instructions. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) Cycle was used in order to test an intervention on a smaller scale in order to determine if it leads to improvement. An evidence-based, standardized preoperative instruction pamphlet was developed and distributed to the patients across three specialties at an outpatient surgery center over a four-week time period. Surgical delay/cancellation occurrences decreased from 4.94% in the pre-intervention phase to 0.57% in the intervention phase. All same-day case cancellations during this project occurred due to patients’ nonadherence to preoperative instructions, more specifically, fasting guidelines. Evidence supports using a standardized, evidence-based, written pamphlet for delivery of preoperative instructions in successfully reducing same-day surgical cancellations. Further research is needed in preoperative instructions for patients speaking languages other than English as well as for patients who cannot read.
