title: When patients call their surgeon's office: an opportunity to improve the quality of surgical care and prevent readmissions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Little is known about care coordination and communication with outpatient endocrine surgery patients. This study evaluated phone calls between office nurses and surgical patients to identify common issues addressed and their effect on patient care.
  
  
  METHODS
  Qualitative analysis of preoperative and postoperative phone conversations between office nurses and endocrine surgery patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified 183 thyroidectomy patients with 38% contacting our office before surgery and 54% within 30 days after surgery. Common reasons for preoperative calls included questions about preoperative evaluation (21%), medications (18%), and insurance and/or work paperwork (12%). Postoperatively, common topics included medications (23%), laboratory results (23%), and concerns about wounds (12%). Nursing staff prevented unnecessary readmission in 7 patients (4%) whereas appropriately referring 16 (9%) for early evaluation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients frequently contact their surgeons before and after endocrine surgery cases. Our findings suggest several areas for improving communication with patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin, 600 Highland Avenue Madison, WI 53792-7375.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brekke
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin, 600 Highland Avenue Madison, WI 53792-7375.
authors.forename: Dawn M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Elfenbein
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin, 600 Highland Avenue Madison, WI 53792-7375.
authors.forename: Tariq
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Madkhali
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin, 600 Highland Avenue Madison, WI 53792-7375.
authors.forename: Sarah C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Schaefer
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin, 600 Highland Avenue Madison, WI 53792-7375.
authors.forename: Cindy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shumway
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin, 600 Highland Avenue Madison, WI 53792-7375.
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin, 600 Highland Avenue Madison, WI 53792-7375.
authors.forename: David F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin, 600 Highland Avenue Madison, WI 53792-7375.
authors.forename: Rebecca S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Sippel
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin, 600 Highland Avenue Madison, WI 53792-7375. Electronic address: balentine@surgery.wisc.edu.
authors.forename: Courtney
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Balentine
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D006801:Humans; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011182:Postoperative Care; D011300:Preoperative Care; D058996:Quality Improvement; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013689:Telephone; D013965:Thyroidectomy / Q000451:nursing*; D014922:Wisconsin
keywords: Care coordination; Endocrine surgery; Outcomes; Patient education