RAPP- Systematic E-assessment of Postoperative Recovery in Patients Undergoing Day Surgery

Introduction Day surgery is a well-established practice in many European countries, but only limited information is available regarding postoperative recovery at home though there is a current lack of a standard procedure regarding postoperative follow-up. Furthermore, there is also a need for improvement of modern technology in assessing patient related outcomes such as native software applications. This article describes the RAPP study protocol, a mixed-methods study to evaluate if a systematic e-assessment follow-up in patients undergoing day surgery is cost effective and improves postoperative recovery, health and quality of life.

Methods and analysis This study is a mixed-methods study design that includes a multicenter, two-group, parallel, single-blind randomized controlled trial (RCT) and qualitative interview studies. One thousand patients >17 years of age who are undergoing day surgery will be randomly assigned to either e-assessed postoperative recovery follow-up daily in 14 days measured via smartphone app including the Swedish web-version of Quality of Recovery (SwQoR) or to standard care (i.e. no follow up). The primary aim is cost effectiveness. Secondary aims are improvements on postoperative recovery, health-related quality of life (QoL) and overall health; (b) to determine whether differences in health literacy have a substantial and distinct effect on postoperative recovery, health, and QoL; and (c) to describe day-care patient and staff experiences with a systematic e-assessment follow-up after day surgery.The primary will be measured at 2 weeks postoperatively and secondary outcomes b) at 1 and 2 weeks and c) at 1 and 4 months.