Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School researchers found patient-centered perioperative checklists may help surgeons in outpatient settings bolster patient outcomes, surgical quality and patient satisfaction scores, according to General Surgery News.
The research team created a checklist that featured key questions patients should ask medical providers prior to an outpatient procedure. After creating the checklist, the researchers conducted a study of 35 patients and 52 providers.
Here are five thoughts:
1. Most patients (94 percent) found the checklist to be helpful in the perioperative setting.
2. Similarly, 83 percent of providers found the checklist useful in the perioperative setting.
3. Patients reported thinking a checklist would improve their medical knowledge while also alleviating concerns and helping them better prepare for a postoperative recovery.
4. Following the study, the team is validating the checklist to assess how it impacts morbidity, particularly data concerning unanticipated hospital stay, poor postoperative pain control, uncontrolled nausea, discordant anesthetic expectations and postoperative medication errors. Then the team will conduct a beta test in academic outpatient centers and ASCs for efficacy.
5. Joseph Foley, MD, a resident at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said anesthesiologists may struggle to provide high quality care with the influx of healthcare changes and rise in number of ASC procedures. He said, "The production pressure is high in an ambulatory setting, and this checklist provides a set of checks and balances."
