Preoperative Instructions Through Reminder Tools: A Quality Improvement Project to Reduce Preventable Last-minute Cancellations in the Endoscopy Suite

BACKGROUND: Clear communication on preoperative instructions (PI) is crucial to ensure patient safety. The failure to provide clear communication could cause delays or cancellations. Last-minute cancellations could disrupt organizational workflow resulting in increased wasted resources, costs, and revenue loss.

AIM: To evaluate the impact of early reminder tools on preventable last-minute cancellations and patient adherence to PI.

METHOD: An improvement project was implemented at the Endoscopy Suite of a cancer hospital in the northeast United States with over 7,000 outpatient procedures annually. Patients routinely receive a call from the prep nurse team three days before the day of surgery (DOS). The project implemented additional call and email with notifications from the patient portal application as early interventions to remind patients of their PI two to three weeks before DOS.

RESULTS: The project observed a slight difference in last-minute cancellations during the pre-intervention, call, and email reminders phases (16.4%, 14.6%, and 15.7%). However, there were fewer preventable cancellations in the call and email reminders phases compared to the pre-intervention phase by 9.3% & 14.1%, respectively. The interventions also significantly reduced unawareness/forgetfulness as cancellation reasons related to patient adherence to PI.

CONCLUSION: In this project, early reminder tools were helpful in reducing last-minute cancellations. The reminder tools reduced preventable cancellations, which were related to patient adherence to PI. The reminder tools facilitated the early cancellation and rescheduling process to maximize operating room utilization.

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Work Title Preoperative Instructions Through Reminder Tools: A Quality Improvement Project to Reduce Preventable Last-minute Cancellations in the Endoscopy Suite
Access
Open Access
Creators
  1. Nancy Chu-Widjaja, MS, CRNA
Keyword
  1. Adherence
  2. Text message
  3. Reminder
  4. Email
  5. Endoscopy
  6. Preoperative instructions
  7. Cancellations
  8. Live calls
  9. DNP project
  10. Doctor of Nursing Practice
  11. SMS
License CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike)
Work Type Project
Acknowledgments
  1. Cara Exten, PhD, MPH
  2. Barbara Birriel, PhD, ACNP-BC, FCCM
  3. Sheilah Yohn, DNP, CRNP, FNP-BC
  4. Patrick McCormick, MD, MEng
  5. Project team members (See paper)
Publication Date March 28, 2023
Subject
  1. Adult
Language
  1. English
Geographic Area
  1. Northeast United States
Deposited March 20, 2023

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Version 1
published

  • Created
  • Updated
  • Updated Acknowledgments Show Changes
    Acknowledgments
    • Cara Exten, PhD, MPH, Patrick McCormick, MD, MEng, Barbara Birriel, PhD, ACNP-BC, FCCM, Sheilah Yohn, DNP, CRNP, FNP-BC
  • Added Creator Nancy Chu-Widjaja, CRNA
  • Updated License Show Changes
    License
    • https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
  • Updated Acknowledgments Show Changes
    Acknowledgments
    • Cara Exten, PhD, MPH, Patrick McCormick, MD, MEng, Barbara Birriel, PhD, ACNP-BC, FCCM, Sheilah Yohn, DNP, CRNP, FNP-BC
    • Cara Exten, PhD, MPH, Patrick McCormick, MD, MEng, Barbara Birriel, PhD, ACNP-BC, FCCM, Sheilah Yohn, DNP, CRNP, FNP-BC, Project team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
  • Updated Keyword, Acknowledgments Show Changes
    Keyword
    • Adherence, Text message, Reminder, Email, Endoscopy, preoperative instructions, cancellations, Live calls
    • Adherence, Text message, Reminder, Email, Endoscopy, preoperative instructions, cancellations, Live calls, DNP project, Doctor of Nursing Practice
    Acknowledgments
    • Cara Exten, PhD, MPH, Patrick McCormick, MD, MEng, Barbara Birriel, PhD, ACNP-BC, FCCM, Sheilah Yohn, DNP, CRNP, FNP-BC, Project team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
    • Cara Exten, PhD, MPH, Barbara Birriel, PhD, ACNP-BC, FCCM, Sheilah Yohn, DNP, CRNP, FNP-BC, Patrick McCormick, MD, MEng, Project team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
  • Renamed Creator Nancy Chu-Widjaja, MS, CRNA Show Changes
    • Nancy Chu-Widjaja, CRNA
    • Nancy Chu-Widjaja, MS, CRNA
  • Updated Work Title, Description Show Changes
    Work Title
    • Preoperative Instructions Through Reminder Tools: A Quality Improvement Project to Reduce Preventable Last-minute Cancellations in the Endoscopy Suite
    • Preoperative Instructions through Reminder Tools: A Quality Improvement Project to Reduce Preventable Last-minute Cancellations in the Endoscopy Suite
    Description
    • BACKGROUND: Clear communication on preoperative instructions (PI) is crucial to ensure patient safety. The failure to provide clear communication could cause delays or cancellations. Last-minute cancellations could disrupt organizational workflow resulting in increased wasted resources, costs, and revenue loss.
    • AIM: To evaluate the impact of early reminder tools on preventable last-minute cancellations and patient adherence to PI.
    • METHOD: An improvement project was implemented at the Endoscopy Suite of a cancer hospital in the northeast United States with over 7,000 outpatient procedures annually. Patients routinely receive a call from the prep nurse team three days before the day of surgery (DOS). The project implemented an additional call and/or email with notification from the patient portal application as early intervention to remind patients of their PI two to three weeks before DOS.
    • RESULTS: The project observed a slight difference in last-minute cancellations during the pre-intervention, call, and email reminders phases (16.4%, 14.6%, and 15.7%). However, there were fewer preventable cancellations in the call and email reminders phases compared to the pre-intervention phase by 9.3% & 14.1%, respectively. The interventions also significantly reduced unawareness/forgetfulness as cancellation reasons related to patient adherence to PI.
    • CONCLUSION: In this project, early reminder tools were helpful in reducing last-minute cancellations. The reminder tools reduced preventable cancellations, which were related to patient adherence to PI. The reminder tools facilitated the early cancellation and rescheduling process to maximize operating room utilization.
  • Updated Work Title, Keyword, Description Show Changes
    Work Title
    • Preoperative Instructions through Reminder Tools: A Quality Improvement Project to Reduce Preventable Last-minute Cancellations in the Endoscopy Suite
    • Preoperative Instructions Through Reminder Tools: A Quality Improvement Project to Reduce Preventable Last-minute Cancellations in the Endoscopy Suite
    Keyword
    • Adherence, Text message, Reminder, Email, Endoscopy, preoperative instructions, cancellations, Live calls, DNP project, Doctor of Nursing Practice
    • Adherence, Text message, Reminder, Email, Endoscopy, preoperative instructions, cancellations, Live calls, DNP project, Doctor of Nursing Practice, SMS
    Description
    • BACKGROUND: Clear communication on preoperative instructions (PI) is crucial to ensure patient safety. The failure to provide clear communication could cause delays or cancellations. Last-minute cancellations could disrupt organizational workflow resulting in increased wasted resources, costs, and revenue loss.
    • BACKGROUND: Clear communication on preoperative instructions (PI) is crucial to ensure patient safety. The failure to provide clear communication could cause delays or cancellations. Last-minute cancellations could disrupt organizational workflow resulting in increased wasted resources, costs, and revenue loss.
    • AIM: To evaluate the impact of early reminder tools on preventable last-minute cancellations and patient adherence to PI.
    • AIM: To evaluate the impact of early reminder tools on preventable last-minute cancellations and patient adherence to PI.
    • METHOD: An improvement project was implemented at the Endoscopy Suite of a cancer hospital in the northeast United States with over 7,000 outpatient procedures annually. Patients routinely receive a call from the prep nurse team three days before the day of surgery (DOS). The project implemented an additional call and/or email with notification from the patient portal application as early intervention to remind patients of their PI two to three weeks before DOS.
    • METHOD: An improvement project was implemented at the Endoscopy Suite of a cancer hospital in the northeast United States with over 7,000 outpatient procedures annually. Patients routinely receive a call from the prep nurse team three days before the day of surgery (DOS). The project implemented additional call and email with notifications from the patient portal application as early interventions to remind patients of their PI two to three weeks before DOS.
    • RESULTS: The project observed a slight difference in last-minute cancellations during the pre-intervention, call, and email reminders phases (16.4%, 14.6%, and 15.7%). However, there were fewer preventable cancellations in the call and email reminders phases compared to the pre-intervention phase by 9.3% & 14.1%, respectively. The interventions also significantly reduced unawareness/forgetfulness as cancellation reasons related to patient adherence to PI.
    • RESULTS: The project observed a slight difference in last-minute cancellations during the pre-intervention, call, and email reminders phases (16.4%, 14.6%, and 15.7%). However, there were fewer preventable cancellations in the call and email reminders phases compared to the pre-intervention phase by 9.3% & 14.1%, respectively. The interventions also significantly reduced unawareness/forgetfulness as cancellation reasons related to patient adherence to PI.
    • CONCLUSION: In this project, early reminder tools were helpful in reducing last-minute cancellations. The reminder tools reduced preventable cancellations, which were related to patient adherence to PI. The reminder tools facilitated the early cancellation and rescheduling process to maximize operating room utilization.
    • CONCLUSION: In this project, early reminder tools were helpful in reducing last-minute cancellations. The reminder tools reduced preventable cancellations, which were related to patient adherence to PI. The reminder tools facilitated the early cancellation and rescheduling process to maximize operating room utilization.
  • Updated Acknowledgments Show Changes
    Acknowledgments
    • Cara Exten, PhD, MPH, Barbara Birriel, PhD, ACNP-BC, FCCM, Sheilah Yohn, DNP, CRNP, FNP-BC, Patrick McCormick, MD, MEng, Project team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
    • Cara Exten, PhD, MPH, Barbara Birriel, PhD, ACNP-BC, FCCM, Sheilah Yohn, DNP, CRNP, FNP-BC, Patrick McCormick, MD, MEng, Project team members
  • Added Chu-Widjaja, Nancy Final Scholarly Project Paper.pdf
  • Updated Acknowledgments, Publication Date Show Changes
    Acknowledgments
    • Cara Exten, PhD, MPH, Barbara Birriel, PhD, ACNP-BC, FCCM, Sheilah Yohn, DNP, CRNP, FNP-BC, Patrick McCormick, MD, MEng, Project team members
    • Cara Exten, PhD, MPH, Barbara Birriel, PhD, ACNP-BC, FCCM, Sheilah Yohn, DNP, CRNP, FNP-BC, Patrick McCormick, MD, MEng, Project team members (See paper)
    Publication Date
    • 2023-03-28
  • Published
  • Updated Keyword Show Changes
    Keyword
    • Adherence, Text message, Reminder, Email, Endoscopy, preoperative instructions, cancellations, Live calls, DNP project, Doctor of Nursing Practice, SMS
    • Adherence, Text message, Reminder, Email, Endoscopy, Preoperative instructions, Cancellations, Live calls, DNP project, Doctor of Nursing Practice, SMS
  • Updated

Version 2
published

  • Created
  • Updated License Show Changes
    License
    • https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
    • https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
  • Added Chu-Widjaja, Nancy Final Scholarly Project Paper without signature.pdf
  • Deleted Chu-Widjaja, Nancy Final Scholarly Project Paper.pdf
  • Published
  • Updated