| Description |
With an increasing number of surgical and outpatient procedures being performed in the United States each year, positive patient outcomes and experiences are more important than ever before. Ensuring positive outcomes for all parties involved needs to begin prior to patients even reaching the hospital - with preadmission testing and teaching. Preprocedural patient education and evaluation is important for a variety of reasons. Educational information provided to patients before undergoing any procedure provides invaluable information about surgical interventions, recovery time, necessary support before, during, and after, as well as increases satisfaction with care, lowers rates of readmission, and leads to less cancellations (Ibrahim et al., 2018; DeLano, 2017; Allison & George, 2014).Appropriate preadmission testing and education begins with a preadmission testing (PAT) phone call, or contact from the facility, where the patient plans to have their procedure. This occurs after the procedure is scheduled and before the day of the planned procedure to provide instructions to the patients and their families (Morgan, 2008). The PAT call is initiatedby a trained registered nurse to discuss the following topics: allergies, medical and surgical histories, complete review of systems, medication compliance, ensure diagnostic testing has been completed, provide any last-minute instructions as to when to stop eating, drinking, when to arrive, and how to safely travel home to note a few examples (Morgan, 2008; & Allison & George, 2014). Additionally, this is where any barriers to safe patient care are often discovered and mitigated such as if the patient has an implanted cardiac defibrillator or pacemaker, history of a drug-resistant organisms, obstructive sleep apnea, or problems with intubation or anesthesia (Morgan, 2008; & Allison & George, 2014). Questions regarding anesthesia and compliance with the process preparing for the procedure is also addressed during this time (Peng et al., 2020). During this process, any barriers to a successful procedure are identified and relayed to the appropriate team that will be caring for the patient on the day of their procedure, including individual needs and needs of the family members (Alaloul et al., 2019). |
