the type of surgical procedure the patient will undergo and becomes a
handy reference before and after surgery.
"The main thing is, we don't assume our patients know what is
going to happen throughout the process," says Ms. Sarosiek. "We give
patients the right information at the right time before surgery, before
they're on pain medications and before anesthesia."
The handbook is placed in a ¼-inch, 3-ring binder and ranges from
26 to 43 pages in length, depending on the procedure. Each binder
costs about $6 to put together. They worked with their marketing and
patient education departments to develop the correct phrasing and
found that writing at a 5
th
or 6
th
grade level, as well as using bullet
points and checklists that contain small pieces of digestible informa-
tion, was the best way to present the information.
A new handbook is designed for each surgical service and all the
perioperative areas — physicians, anesthesia, nurses, pharmacy and
physical therapists — are involved in putting it together. The hand-
book goes step by step through the operative experience with input
from all the key players involved in the process. How do they figure
out the right information to include?
They ask one question to each team involved: What are the most
common things patients ask you about before and after surgery?
"Involving the clinic nurses in the development of the handbooks is
crucial since they are the ones fielding all the calls," says Ms.
Sarosiek.
But there is another benefit to including different areas of the peri-
operative experience. "It ensures their buy-in," says Ms. Sarosiek.
The benefits of patient education are clear in how the patients are
involved in their recovery. "Patients ask their nurse when they are get-
ting out of bed post-op instead of waiting to be told," she says. "We've
empowered them to ask about their care. The biggest thing patients
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