Outpatient Surgery Magazine - Subscribers

2018 Salary Survey - Outpatient Surgery Magazine - January 2019

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

Issue link: http://outpatientsurgery.uberflip.com/i/1070699

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 21 of 124

videos on our website about parental presence at induction of anes- thesia and preparing for outpatient surgery, topics that could be unset- tling unknowns to them. Just as text messaging has become the go-to form of communica- tion for most of us, it's really enhanced our pre-op communications. We've been sending automated pre-op texts for about a year now. It hasn't replaced the nurse's phone call — at least not yet — but we can't imagine life without our customized texting service. Type instead of talk We all know the challenges of reaching patients by phone in the days before surgery. Reaching the young parents of pediatric patients to communicate critical info might be even more difficult. Mom and Dad are seemingly always on the go: working, driving, or at the supermar- ket or Little League game when a nurse tries to reach them by phone late in the afternoon — either unable to pick up the phone or to write down the instructions. And sometimes we can't even leave a message because their voice mailboxes are full. It's clearly faster and easier to reach most parents through text. Studies show that only 1 in 5 people answer calls they aren't expect- ing, while the average person reads a text within 5 seconds (unless they're driving, of course!). Talk about instant messaging. According to industry statistics, the average cell phone owner under 45 years old sends and receives about 85 texts every day. Apparently, though, very few of those texts come from surgical facilities. According to last month's online poll by Outpatient Surgery Magazine, only 12% of 242 respondents send patients automated texts. Another 23% said they hoped to begin texting. But as patient satisfaction and convenience become increasingly Business Advisor BA 2 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 9

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Outpatient Surgery Magazine - Subscribers - 2018 Salary Survey - Outpatient Surgery Magazine - January 2019