Implementation of electronic messaging protocol for pediatric urology preoperative scheduling: A pilot study

Preparing patients for surgery is a task healthcare organizations strive to optimize. Electronic messaging (EM) provides an opportunity for streamlining components of this arduous process. Our study aims to evaluate our early experience in utilizing EM to provide preoperative information to pediatric urology patients. To assess the effectiveness of EM in preparing patients for pediatric urologic surgery. This study compared a 6-week pilot program of EM (Figure 1) with traditional nurse phone calls (NPC) in preoperative instruction of pediatric urology patients. The same preoperative instructional information was provided via either source. Data collected included time and resources used by the healthcare system and patient/parent satisfaction. The EM group included 98 patients, while the NPC group included 212 patients. Case cancellation rate between the two cohorts was similar, with a 6.67% cancellation rate in the EM cohort and a 10.55% cancellation rate in the NPC cohort (z = −1.137, p = 0.25). There were 4 EM-related operating room delays with an average case delay of 31.5 min (5–60 min). Twenty-four (24%) EM patients/families required secondary phone calls, while 106 (50%) NPC required a follow up phone call (p