The Journal of mHealth Vol 2 Issue 2 (Apr 2015) | Page 28

Engaging Patients to Deliver Improved Surgical Outcomes
Continued from page 25

ments often contribute to increased readmissions. Lastly, patients often do not stay
in-network for physical therapy, resulting
in a lost revenue opportunity for providers that own PT or cardiac rehab practices. HealthySteps addresses all of these
patient pain points and contributes to better patient management for providers.
Conclusion
More than ever, providers have a suite of

new processes and technologies to enlist the
help of patients to curb preventable readmissions. Working together, with smart technologies and processes in the middle, providers
and patients should be able to enhance outcomes and reduce total cost-of-care.
References
1. Mayo Clinic Proceedings (2005),
“Patients’ Understanding of Their
Treatment Plans and Diagnosis at
Discharge”

2. Fierce Healthcare. http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/patient-navigatorsreduced-readmissions-overuse-er-pilot-program/2015-01-27
3. Population Health Management
(2011), The Impact of Postdischarge
Telephonic Follow-Up on Hospital
Readmissions
4. Mayo Clinic. http://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/cardiac-rehab-patientswho-use-smartphone-app-recover-bettermayo-clinic-research-shows/ n

Engaging Patients to Deliver
Improved Surgical Outcomes
A recent trial conducted at Toronto East General Hospital (TEGH) has demonstrated the benefits of using a web &
mobile-enabled, patient engagement program to help improve
the outcomes and experiences of patients undergoing thoracic
surgery. The results have shown significant improvements in surgical outcomes and reductions in cancellations of procedures.
The trial which was undertaken as a joint project by TEGH in
partnership with SeamlessMD was introduced with the aim of
improving the patient experience, as they underwent thoracic
surgical procedures, by providing a technology-enabled support
platform, designed to help guide and inform them during the
pre-operative and post-operative stages of surgery.
Results from the trial have been extremely positive with significant reductions in cancellation rates, better patient adherence to
clinical guidance, and increased patient satisfaction.
TEGH is well known for having an established Level 1 Centre
of Excellence for thoracic surgery. The multi-disciplinary surgical team which includes 3 full-time thoracic surgeons is led by
Dr. Carmine Simone, Chief of Surgery, who was also responsible for overseeing the trial.

The trial was therefore established with the aim of introducing
a patient engagement program for thoracic surgery delivered
using smartphones, tablets and computers. The program was
designed to guide patients through pre-op preparation and postop recovery phases, using: Electronic reminders for patients
& caregivers, Interactive education (illustrations, videos, etc.),
Symptom tracking, Automated feedback during recovery, and
Electronic data collection to record patient satisfaction.

The hospital originally approached SeamlessMD with the aim of
introducing an integrated patient engagement solution to help try
and solve a number of issues. Despite providing more coordinated care as a Level 1 Centre, Dr. Simone found his patients faced
difficulties adhering to their instructions and staying engaged
in the process between visits. He also found that patients were
often overwhelmed by all the instructions they had to remember
for preparing for major cancer surgery and during the recovery
period afterwards. He realised verbal and written instructions are
often complicated and difficult for patients to understand, and in
many cases these become lost or forgotten.

In addition, TEGH staff had access to a real-time analytics dashboard to track patient progress and analyse data, such
as patient satisfaction, in real-time. SeamlessMD also worked
closely with TEGH staff to ensure integration of the program
into the clinical workflow.

In a review of hospital data, it had also been found that during
the 3 months prior to the trial the thoracic surgery program had
6 procedures cancelled due to patients failing to stop medication. In addition the existing program often experienced
a significant number of unnecessary post-op phone calls.

77 patients and 35 caregivers were involved with the trial which
revealed numerous benefits for the surgical centre, including: a
dramatic reduction in same-day surgery cancellations, high patient
satisfaction and better collection of patient satisfaction data.

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April 2015

Simone comments, “It [the SeamlessMD platform] acts like
front-line customer relations to answer questions that the patient
has. This has reduced a lot of avoidable calls. They [the patients]
feel more connected to their instructions, and they self-manage
much better than before.”