Web sites give patients 24-hour information
For four years, the staff at the same-day surgery program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston have provided patients with pre-op and post-op information through their web site (www.bidmc.harvard.edu/ambsurg), says Mary Ellen Bowers, RN, MSN, clinical nurse at the Ambulatory Surgical Center in Boston. "We developed the site for our Internet-active patients who want access to information at times outside normal office hours for us and for physicians," Bowers explains.
The site contains directions to the facility, instructions on where to park, information about arrival times, and general information for patients on the day of their surgery, she says. "We also provide information about pain management that patients can look at when they get home," Bowers adds. This extra information reinforces whatever teaching has been given before discharge, she points out.
While Beth Israel’s web site does not allow patients to contact the surgery center through e-mail, Woodall Surgery Center’s site does, says Ka Russum, RN, BSN, director of the Lowery A. Woodall Outpatient Surgery Facility at Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, MS. (The web site is www.forrestgeneral.com. Click on "Lowery A. Woodall Outpatient Surgery Facility.") "The e-mails come to me, and I check them every day," she says. Because the site has been operational for only a short time, Russum is not sure how many e-mails her facility will receive and if it is feasible to have a same-day surgery staff member respond to them.
The web site can be an invaluable adjunct to the patient education process because it is available when the patient needs information, no matter what time of day, Bowers says. It does, however, need to be marketed, she adds. Bowers suggests brochures in physicians’ offices and waiting areas. "Nurses that make the pre-op telephone calls or follow-up calls ought to ask if patients are Internet-active and direct them to the web site for more information as well," she says.
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