Digital health technology utilization is associated with enhanced patient perspectives of care.

BACKGROUND: Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores measure patient experience and perspectives on care. Novel health information technologies facilitate communication between patients and healthcare teams. Playback Health is a health information technology that incorporates multimedia for providers to communicate health information to patients, their support network, and their healthcare teams. We hypothesized implementing Playback Health may enhance patient perspectives on care. METHODS: HCAHPS scores were obtained retrospectively from a neurosurgical practice located in a metropolitan area between 2020 and 2022 for seven providers. Of these, four providers utilized Playback Health, and three did not. Individual providers' scores were compared between domains using two tailed t-tests at a significance level of p < 0.05. RESULTS: Playback Health use was associated with higher HCAHPS scores across varying domains from 2020 through 2022 as well as overall scores. In 2020, the mean overall score of HCAHPS users was higher than non-users (89.65 vs. 87.28, p = 0.0095). In 2021, again higher mean overall scores were observed in users as compared to non-users (89.11 vs. 87.79, p 0.0266). In 2022, Playback Health users maintained higher scores across communication domains and overall scores (p < 0.00001). Comparisons within domains between Playback Health users and non-users revealed no domains in which non-users had a significantly higher score than users. CONCLUSION: The addition of Playback Health multimedia health information technology was associated with improved patient satisfaction scores. When used as an adjunct to existing patient care, multimedia health information technologies may improve patient perceived care.

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) for Cranial Tumor Resection: A Review.

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols describe a standardized method of preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative care to enhance outcomes and minimize complication risks surrounding elective surgical intervention. A growing body of evidence is being generated as we learn to apply principles of ERAS standardization to neurosurgical patients. First applied in spinal surgery, ERAS protocols have been extended to cranial neuro-oncologic procedures. This review synthesizes recent findings to generate evidence-based guidelines to manage neurosurgical oncology patients with standardized systems and assess ability of these systems to coordinate multidisciplinary, patient-centric care efforts. Furthermore, we highlight the potential usefulness of multimedia, app-based communication platforms to facilitate patient education, autonomy, and team communication within each of the 3 settings.

Use of Hemostatic Matrix for Hemostasis of the Cavernous Sinus during Endoscopic Endonasal Pituitary and Suprasellar Tumor Surgery.

The endoscopic endonasal approach offers a wide, panoramic exposure of the sellar floor, planum, and clivus. The ability to expose fully the tumor margins, through lateral extension of cavernous sinuses, increases the exposure and ability to resect the tumor but increases the risk of bleeding. The authors describe achieving hemostasis using a hemostatic matrix, FloSeal (Baxter Biosciences, Vienna, Austria) sealant, during endoscopic endonasal tumor removal, specifically for pituitary and suprasellar tumors. Thirty-nine cases (33 pituitary adenomas, 4 craniopharyngiomas, 1 clival plasmacytoma, and 1 planum meningioma) are described using this technique. FloSeal was injected directly to the site of bleeding, and a cottonoid was used for further tamponade, immediately achieving hemostasis with no hemorrhagic complications in any of the patients. Surgery could be immediately pursued without any delay. This simple nuance can be used as a safe method in cavernous sinus hemostasis during endoscopic endonasal surgery and may decrease operative time.