Developing a program to monitor patient satisfaction and outcome in the ambulatory surgery setting.

The nursing staff of the ambulatory surgery unit at Maine Medical Center developed, evaluated, and refined a program for following up the progress and level of satisfaction of patients after discharge. A committee of registered nurses researched various methods of follow-up and the staff decided that telephone calls to patients within 24 hours of their discharge would be the best method. The identified purposes of the telephone calls were: (1) to obtain feedback regarding patients' perceptions of how well they were doing at home on the day after their procedures, and (2) to gather information about the patients' perceptions of their ambulatory surgical experiences. The original and the revised questionnaires used for the calls are described and various operational aspects are addressed, eg, who would make the calls and when would they be made. The nurses at this center have been able to identify and address specific issues related to quality of patient care for the nurses using the information obtained. Among the benefits of the program were improved staff morale, higher self-esteem, and enhanced community image.