The Effect of Mobile App Follow-up Care on the Number of In-person Visits Following Ambulatory Surgery: A Randomized Control Trial.
Women's College Hospital (WCH) in Toronto offers specialized ambulatory surgical procedures. A feasibility study using a mobile appliciation (app) to supplement in-person follow-up care after surgery suggests that the mobile app adequately detects postoperative complications, eliminates the need for in-person follow-up care and is cost-effective. This is concordant with other postoperative telemedicine studies. The purpose of this study is to determine if we can avert in-person follow-up care through the use of mobile app compared to conventional, in-person follow-up care in the first month following surgery amongst breast reconstruction patients at WCH. This will be a pragmatic, single-centre, open, controlled, 2-arm parallel-group superiority randomized trial. Mobile app follow-up care is a novel approach to managing patients postoperatively with the potential to avert in-person follow-up and generate cost-savings for the healthcare system and patient.
Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, CAN.
Kathleen
K
Armstrong
Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, CAN.
Peter
P
Coyte
Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, CAN.
John
J
Semple
D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D063731:Mobile Applications; D010358:Patient Participation; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome