When patients call their surgeon's office: an opportunity to improve the quality of surgical care and prevent readmissions.

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.