Development and implementation of a dedicated postoperative evaluation service to improve compliance of postoperative visits

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Postoperative patient evaluation is an integral component of perioperative care. An audit of our anesthesia department's records demonstrated a compliance rate of <50%. We postulated that the development of clinical anesthesia service dedicated to performing such evaluations would improve compliance significantly. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study examined postoperative follow-up completion rate at a large academic center. Data were collected from 58,000 anesthetics during three periods, between each of which an intervention was introduced. The first period examined completion rate when postoperative evaluations were left to the team performing the anesthetic. During the second period, this task was delegated to groups of anesthesiologists based on surgical subspecialty; these smaller groups utilized rotating residents. The third period examined completion rate after implementation of a postoperative evaluation service. All periods utilized the department's electronics database to identify operative patients. The number of adverse anesthesia events reported was also recorded. RESULTS: A significant difference in the proportions of compliance with postoperative evaluations among all three periods was detected. Compliance was 47% during period one and improved to 66% during period two. During period three, which employed a postoperative evaluation service, compliance was 83%. The number of adverse events reported per month increased significantly following the first study period from 95 reported monthly events to 215 and 201 in the second and third periods, respectively. CONCLUSION: By creating a dedicated postoperative evaluation service using available technology, we improved postoperative evaluation completion rate from 47% to 83%, and demonstrated a significant increase in the number of adverse events reported. Based on this, we support the deployment of a dedicated service as a quality improvement initiative.