C. A. Justus1, A. Milewicz1, M. Wortley1, F. Denner1, R. Bogle1, K. Ceyanes1, S. Shah1 1Texas Children’s Hospital,Pediatric General Surgery,Houston, TEXAS, USA
Introduction: The traditional model for elective ambulatory surgical care includes three separate visits to the surgeon: an initial consultation, a second for outpatient surgery, and a third for postoperative follow-up. Single-Visit Surgery (SVS) is an alternative model of ambulatory surgical care that increases convenience to patients and their families by decreasing the burden of multiple visits. SVS consolidates care into a single appointment where patients with straightforward surgical problems are evaluated in the morning and undergo a surgical procedure later that same afternoon. In April 2016 SVS was introduced at a tertiary-care freestanding children’s hospital for the following conditions: umbilical hernia (over 3 years), inguinal hernia (over 12 months), hydrocele (over 12 months), and epigastric hernia. Our objective for this study was to evaluate our early experience and conduct a survey of our patient’s caregivers to evaluate their satisfaction with SVS.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients that were seen as part of SVS from April 2016 through December 2016. Data collected included demographics, diagnoses, procedures performed, and distance traveled to the hospital. Additionally, adult caregivers of SVS patients were contacted and asked to participate in a telephone survey. The telephone survey evaluated their satisfaction with SVS using a 5-point Likert scale.
Results: There were 43 patients seen through SVS during the study period, and 63% were male. The median age was 7-years-old (IQR, 4.5 – 10). The median roundtrip patient commute to the hospital was 30 miles (IQR, 23 – 64). Of the 43 patients evaluated through SVS, 40 (93%) of them underwent surgery. The most common procedure performed was inguinal hernia repair (n=20), followed by umbilical hernia repair (n=17), and epigastric hernia repair (n=1). Of the 40 patients that had surgery, 27 (68%) of the families were contacted and participated in the telephone survey. Of those responding, 93% were strongly satisfied, and 7% were satisfied with the care through SVS. All families said they would recommend the SVS program to a friend.
Conclusion: Single-Visit Surgery is an alternative model of ambulatory surgical care that adds convenience to the patient experience and results in excellent family satisfaction.