Authors (including presenting author) :
Tsao KH (1), Sin MW (1), Choi WK (1), Lo WC (1), Szeto L (1)
Affiliation :
(1) Department of Anaesthesia & Operating Theatre Services, Tseung Kwan O Hospital (TKOH)
Introduction :
E-reminder is an automatic patient reminder program for patients undergoing elective surgeries. It was initiated by the Day Surgical Centre in TKOH since NOV 2024, aiming to enhance communication between healthcare providers and patients by delivering concrete pre-operative instructions. The traditional patient-reminder system by phone calls is time-consuming and not very efficient since some patients may not pick up the calls. With increasing day surgery cases, the nurses need to spend more time to call up the patients. This new system utilizes WhatsApp messaging to remind patients about the appointments and may reduce the number of defaulters.
Objectives :
1. To streamline the appointment process and enhance the appointment attendance of preoperative patients by providing timely and accurate reminders.
2. To minimise reminder phone calls by using mobile messaging 3. To facilitate operation list management with early identification of cancellations
Methodology :
The E-reminder system incorporates a recruitment website that allows patients to register their phone numbers for receiving WhatsApp messages. During registration, a QR code is generated to integrate the patient’s profile into the system. Nurses will assist patients with registration and monitor the progress of both sending and receiving messages with the chatlog. In combination with the OPAS system, the operation list is synchronized with the E-Reminder timetable, enabling nurses to send customised messages to the registered patients who can respond to messages to confirm their admission.
Result & Outcome :
During the first fourteen months of implementation of the program, a total of 651 Dental and ENT surgery patients were invited to register for the program. The response rate of patients increased to 85% in current phase while the rest were not free or forgot to reply. With the continuous system upgrades and adequate staff training, the average time for sending E-reminders for each OT list was about 2 minutes while traditional phone calls might consume over 25-30 minutes per list, resulting in 92-93% reduction in communication time with zero default admission. The system had streamlined the traditional workflow in patient communication, sparing the valuable nursing manpower for direct patient care. Besides, the personalised reminders also accurately delivered the pre-operative instructions to patients. The high reply rate of patients could prevent default admission, resulting in better utilization of operation theatres. These positive outcomes suggested the potential extension of the e-reminder system to all specialties in the future.
