Commentary on: Outpatient visits versus telephone interviews for postoperative care: a randomized controlled trial

Excerpt

This was a randomized controlled trial comparing routine postoperative outpatient clinic visits versus telephone calls for women undergoing surgery for pelvic floor disorders at academic institution in New Mexico from October 2016 to November 2017. The clinic group (n = 50) returned for visits 2, 6, and 12 weeks postoperatively, while the telephone group (n = 50) received a phone call from a nurse at the same time intervals. Women completed the validated Surgical Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (S-CAHPS) questionnaire, Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory-20 (PFDI-20), and pain scales prior to the operation and 3 months postoperatively. The authors hypothesized that telephone calls to patients at regular intervals would result in non-inferior satisfaction scores without differences in safety and clinical outcome measures. …