AORN Journal
Volume 90, Issue 1 , Pages 41-51, July 2009

Postoperative Telephone Calls: Timing Is Everything

  • Jane Flanagan, RN, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Jane Flanagan, RN, PhD, is an assistant professor of nursing at the Connell School of Nursing Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA.

ABSTRACT 

Having nurses contact same-day surgical patients by telephone early in the patients' recovery process may help guide recovery, but there are no guidelines as to the best time to make these calls.

A convenience sample of 77 patients undergoing same-day knee arthroscopy surgery at a large health care center in the northeastern United States was recruited to examine the best time for telephone follow-up by a nurse. Overall patient experiences and teaching-learning needs also were investigated through open-ended questions.

Findings suggest that continuous contact by nurses in the recovery period helped patients discuss and process the surgical experience. Telephone calls may be the most helpful to patients between 12 and 24 hours after surgery. AORN J 90 (July 2009) 41–51. © AORN, Inc, 2009.

Key words:  same-day outpatient surgery , arthroscopy , telephone follow-up

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 Editor's note: This research was funded by a grant from AORN. The quantitative results of this study were published in the April-June 2009 issue of International Journal of Nursing Terminologies and Classifications (Flanagan J, Jones D. “High-frequency nursing diagnoses following same-day knee arthroscopy.” Int J Nurs Terminol Classif. 2009;20[2]:89–95).

PII: S0001-2092(09)00259-2

doi:10.1016/j.aorn.2009.04.001

AORN Journal
Volume 90, Issue 1 , Pages 41-51, July 2009

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