the updates, as well. These messages are powered by our EMR and
are meant to give the most updated information to patients who crave
clarity.
A week before surgery, we can send texts about what patients
need to do to get ready. We even send them directions to our facili-
ty. It makes a big difference when patients know exactly where
they need to go on surgery day and who will greet them at the
door.
When surgery is underway, we can offer their families updates
about how their loved one is doing and who will be their nurse in
recovery. In the days after, we guide them to locations to drop off
unused opioids and send reminders about follow-up care.
Surgical facilities are finding ways to use their EMRs to help
patients through every step of the process and their patient satisfac-
tion scores are benefiting because of it.
Satisfaction survey
You can measure patient satisfaction in ways that go beyond
Medicare quality data. At our facility, we give all our post-op patients an
iPad questionnaire.
The surveys are anonymous, and the feedback is positive in an over-
whelming majority of cases. We'll take the kudos, but the constructive
criticism has value, too. We're looking for feedback about how we're
doing as individual providers and as a care team as a whole.
In the iPad survey, we ask our patients some simple and specific
questions: "Was your procedure on time?"; "Did you receive under-
standable post-op instructions for care afterward"; "Was your pain
controlled?"
No one wants to fill out a 10-page questionnaire on paper. The
whole point is to make it simple for patients and their families to offer
3
Business Advisor
BA
2 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 9
