Outpatient Surgery Magazine - Subscribers

OR Excellence Awards 2015 - September 2015 - Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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1 5 5 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 | O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y . N E T should alert patients to seek emergency care. True emergencies I thought, why not communicate those concepts in patient-centric lan- guage on a take-home card? We could introduce and review the 12 warning signs with the patient and the patient's family before dis- charge. Then, as part of the post-discharge follow-up phone call, a nurse would review the signs again and field any questions. The goal is to deliver the best patient care by triaging post-operative issues and by confining emergency department visits to those that are true emergencies. OSM Call your physician if you experience: • Wound drainage • Wound opening • Wound redness or changes in the appearance of the surrounding skin or around the ostomy • No bowel movement or no gas/stool from rectum for more than 24 hours • Increased abdominal pain • Vomiting • Abdominal swelling • High ostomy output and/or dark urine or no urine • Fever greater than 101.5°F • Inability to take anything by mouth for more than 24 hours Go to the emergency department if you: • Have shortness of breath or are unable to breathe • Have chest pain 12 WARNING SIGNS When Post-op Patients Should Call Their Docs Ms. Wasserman (margaret.wasserman@advocatehealth.com) is the senior analyst of physician peer review and a certified ACS NSQIP SCR at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago, Ill.

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