Get your patients onto Facebook: A study of 605 patients undergoing thoracic or abdominal procedures at two VA hospitals shows that those with larger and more active support networks reported less pain and anxiety before procedures. These patients also used less opiates post-op, had better outcomes, and were more likely to be discharged within seven days. (JACS)
E-mail access increases patient communication, unsurprisingly still does not improve satisfaction: 100 patients referred to a single surgeon for thyroid or parathyroid surgery were assigned to two groups, one of which was given the surgeon’s e-mail address and a note saying it was his preferred method of communication. These patients were almost three times more likely to contact the surgeon via any means of communication (although most used e-mail). Post-op evaluations of patient satisfaction, however, showed no difference between the two groups, even when asked about effectiveness of communication. Although it’s tempting to interpret these results as patients just being unsatisfied no matter what, the study doesn’t mention how many of those inquiring e-mails actually received rapid, polite, and thorough responses. (Arch Surg)
3 responses so far ↓
1 clsmithling // Feb 19, 2008 at 3:53 pm
the article about social networks raises the interesting point in their discussion, but then veers away from it (because it is impossible to control for), that the correlation may be in the other direction — i.e. people who are in more pain may be so debilitated and out of it that they end up with less friends. i think that really can’t be ignored when interpreting these results.
2 kneeguy // Feb 19, 2008 at 5:34 pm
clsmithling: I agree with you.
RE: the other article, I give out my e-mail address routinely. I’ve found that patients won’t abuse it if you don’t respond right away … i.e. let at least a day pass. I think that, at least with my patients, this improves satisfaction, but I’ve never measured it carefully. Even if it doesn’t, I think their worries cool down a little bit when they feel they have access to you, which definitely makes life easier.
3 DanL2 // Feb 19, 2008 at 8:36 pm
The problem with e-mail is that the barrier really goes away. Lots of things that people wouldn’t bother or feel comfortable calling you about goes into e-mails because it’s so easy, and can be so impulsive… not sure if that’s good or bad for patients in the end, and if the additional information they get really changes anything, but it certainly increases my work quite a bit because they expect an answer right away.
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