About Surgery Partner

Effective pre- and post-operative communication with patients and parents is essential to the efficient operation of a hospital or ambulatory surgery center. As modes of communication evolve, medical providers must follow course and embrace new communication modalities to reach their patients effectively. A surgery app allows you to do just that.

Cancelled or missed surgical appointments lead to inefficient use of staff and surgeon time, which are often avoidable when communication strategies are optimized. With our surgery app, your organization can streamline communication between nurses and parents or patients. Mobile messaging provides a convenient means to reinforce pre- and post-surgical instructions and relay details about an array of surgical procedures.

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Nurse holding smart phone with surgery app built by AppCatalyst for St. Louis Children's Hospital Speciality Care Clinic

+ - Challenge

As high as 60% rate of no answer when trying to reach families via phone during business hours
Average time of 2 1/2 minutes spent by a nurse per phone call
Patients arriving with NPO violations
Patients missing surgery due to miscommunication
Parents and patients distracted post-surgery, not able to fully absorb discharge instructions
Excess of information to deliver post-operation, which can get lost when in paper form

+ - Solution

Our Surgery Partner mobile apps deliver case-specific procedure information and push notifications for just-in-time reminders. These keep the family and patient:

On course in preparing for the procedure
Informed of the surgery progress and updates while in the waiting room
Informed of all the specific discharge and follow-up instructions

Once connected to the app, patients (and families) receive important reminders such as the time of their procedure, when they are to arrive, NPO prompts and discharge instructions. They also receive descriptions of their surgeries, what they should do to prepare for the surgery, what to expect upon arrival and the amenities available while waiting, such as food kiosks and how to access the wi-fi.

Screen cap of the Surgery Partner surgery app with information on a patient procedure and preparation instructions for the patient

Screen cap of the Surgery Partner surgery app with information for patients on how to prepare for their operation

Screen cap of the Surgery Partner surgery app with information on Your Visit at the hospital

Screen cap of the Surgery Partner surgery app with home care advice and information for patients

Decrease Cancellations

Reduce avoidable same-day surgical cancellations due to scheduling miscommunication without sacrificing patient or parent satisfaction. Having an instant and direct line of communication with the parent or patient will get them the information they need when they need it.

Optimize Staff Time

Achieve significant savings in nurse time spent on the phone, either trying to reach the patient or educating the patient. Deliver important messages and information to the patient and family, whether they are at home, work, or running errands.

Improve Patient Satisfaction

Create relationships of trust with patients who know you are there to support them and deliver the information they need for pre and post-operative success. Provide value and convenience and continue patient connections post-discharge.

CASE STUDY: ST. LOUIS CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, CHILDREN’S SPECIALTY CARE CENTER

In 2016, St. Louis Children’s Hospital hired AppCatalyst to develop “Surgery Connect.” This surgery app conveys to parents vital information they need prior to, during and after their child’s outpatient surgery.

“It is sometimes difficult to contact parents by phone, and when we do, they may be answering while doing something else like driving, shopping, working—things that distract them from the information we are giving them about their child’s surgery.” — Beth Smith, BSN, RN, CSCC Perioperative Services.

RESULTS

For the last year:

80% of patient parents utilized the app

39,000+ sessions
49,000+ views of pediatric procedure details by parents
Average session duration of 5 minutes and 17 seconds

CLIENT TAKEAWAYS

The rate of same-day cancellations attributable to communication failure has dropped significantly. The majority of this improvement is due to a reduction in scheduling miscommunication
There have been significant savings in nurse time spent on the phone since deploying the app, either trying to reach the patient or educating the patient
Effective pre-operative communication with patients and parents is essential to the efficient operation of a pediatric ASC