Preoperative patient teaching in ambulatory surgery settings.

The researchers conducted this descriptive replication study to identify preoperative teaching content deemed important by patients and nurses in ambulatory surgery settings. Thirty ambulatory surgery patients and 29 perioperative nurses participated in the study, which was conducted at a midsized hospital in the southeastern United States. Patients ranked situational information (eg, explaining activities, events) as the most important teaching content areas, whereas nurses ranked psychosocial support (eg, dealing with worries, concerns) as the most important. Patients preferred to have teaching conducted before they were admitted for ambulatory surgery, whereas nurses believed that some teaching could take place after admission. The study results suggest that addressing patients' priorities and initiating teaching earlier in the perioperative process is crucial to ambulatory surgery patients' postoperative outcomes.