Evaluation of Hospital Readmission Rate Dependent on Post-Operative Follow-Up Procedure: A Randomized Prospective Clinical Trial

This study will be a prospective clinical trial, in which colorectal surgery patients will be randomly assigned to a control or experimental group. Patients will be consented and randomized prior to discharge.The control group will be discharged with standard of care follow-up instructions described by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (OSUWMC), and scheduled to come in for a standard follow-up clinic visit within 2-3 weeks. The experimental group will also be scheduled for a 2-3 week post-op follow-up appointment, but will also receive a phone call 3-days post procedure. During this phone call, the patient will be asked questions using a study-specific questionnaire that is based on the most frequent indications for readmission after colorectal surgery. Based on the responses, patients will be advised to maintain the scheduled 2-3 week post-op appointment, visit the clinic within 48 hours, or go to the Emergency Department immediately. To determine if patients had visited an ED or been readmitted to a hospital within 30 days of colorectal surgery, both the standard of care and intervention groups will receive a phone call 30-days post-discharge. At this time we will also conduct the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey to measure patient satisfaction.