Evaluation of telephonic interview versus in person follow up after surgical procedures

Traditionally patients are expected to report back to the hospital after surgery for a follow up with their respective surgeons. Although this offers psychological support to the patients this involves logistical issues such as travelling and the need to take a day off in order to visit the doctor and the associated costs. Particularly in recent times because of Covid infection and people wanting to avoid another hospital visit, the option of telephonic follow up have to be analyzed. In this study we aim to assess the effectiveness of a telephonic interview with the traditional in person follow up after surgery.

Patients enrolled in the study will receive a call from a healthcare professional one or two days prior to their scheduled visit to the hospital for their first postoperative follow up.

The questionnaire will then be asked in the form of a telephonic interview by the healthcare professional and data entered on to the google forms.

The primary surgeon will then carry out their routine postoperative in-person follow up and enter their findings in a separate google form. At this interview, the surgeon will look for complaints not reported during telephonic interviews and surprise clinical findings that were not expected from the details derived from the telephonic interview and finally the google forms will be compared and analyzed by an independent observer