An audit to evaluate the effectiveness of giving postoperative advice over the telephone

Author(s): H. Shepherd - Pages: 56–61

Abstract

The length of time that patients are staying in hospital after gynaecological surgery is decreasing, and physiotherapy services are having to respond to this change. In Salford, UK, women undergoing a major gynaecological procedure were sent written information pre-operatively, and when they had returned home, this was followed up with a telephone call in the first week after surgery. A telephone advice questionnaire was designed in order to standardize this input and audit the service. Findings were compared between the years 2011–2012 and 2014–2015. The 2011–2012 results revealed that 50% of participants reported postoperative constipation, which resulted in the addition of a laxative to their home medication. The 2014–2015 results showed a reduction in the proportion of participants affected, with only 29% describing postoperative constipation. The audit also revealed rates of postoperative bladder dysfunction and new cases of 23% and 4.8%, respectively. At 4 h per week, giving advice over the telephone was deemed to be an effective use of physiotherapy time. All the women who were contacted were happy to receive telephone advice because this gave them an opportunity to ask questions, and problems could be dealt with promptly. Approximately half of the participants took up an offer of postoperative pelvic floor assessment.

Keywords: audit, gynaecology, physiotherapy, postoperative advice, surgery.