Files
Abstract
Patient compliance with medication instructions on day of surgery (DOS) is an important part of the preoperative assessment, as failure to comply with these may lead to serious perioperative consequences. Prior studies have shown that compliance increases with multimodal interventions. However due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, many in-person visits transitioned to telephone visits and providers had to rely on patients to follow solely verbal instructions.
To determine medication compliance, this study compared the medication instructions provided by the VCU Preoperative Assessment Communication and Education Clinic, per chart review, with each patient’s own report of which medications they took on the morning of surgery. Secondary outcomes included demographics potentially associated with patients’ compliance such as age, education level and ASA physical status class, which were obtained from the patient's EMR.
Out of a total of 80 (100%) surveyed patients, fifty six patients (70%) understood and were compliant with medication instructions. Among this group of participants, thirty two (57%) patients had completed some college education or higher level. Our results suggest that telephone assessments seem to be an effective means of achieving patient medication compliance on the day of surgery and that education level seems to influence likelihood of compliance. These preliminary results will help us further refine our survey questions and identify other areas to further improve DOS medication compliance.
Publication Date
2021
Keywords
anesthesia, preoperative evaluation, quality improvement, telephone, telemedicine, PACE, medication compliance
Disciplines
Anesthesiology | Quality Improvement | Telemedicine
Faculty Advisor/Mentor
Olga Suarez-Winowiski MD, MSc
Is Part Of
VCU Graduate Research Posters