suit. Some facilities now offer patients affected by bad outcomes com-
pensation for expenses related to the procedure — like out-of-pocket
travel expenses, writing off the cost for the surgery or even paying for
subsequent treatment. This is given without requiring the patient to
sign a waiver saying he won't sue the facility.
This strategy seems to work, as evidenced in the
J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 6 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 3 5
PRE-OP PLANNING
Give Patients a Roadmap
Of Their Surgery
If you want to build strong relationships with patients, you must fully explain the procedure to
them before surgery, along with all the risks and benefits. Yes, this sounds obvious, but often-
times this explanation is rushed, leaving patients confused, frustrated or feeling left out of
their medical decisions.
I find giving patients a "roadmap" to their treatment helps. For example, recently I gave a
patient referred to me with an infection after a hip replacement a roadmap with several "exit"
options — do nothing, try antibiotics, wash out the implant or remove it. We had a 2-way con-
versation that thoroughly discussed each "exit" before settling on washing out the implant.
When talking to your patients pre-operatively, try giving them a detailed roadmap of their
surgery, explaining each step of process as well as any "exit" options they may have. Make
sure your staffers also have plenty of time for questions in each pre-op evaluation, so patients
don't feel rushed.
Another small step that improves communication is to provide patients with a cell phone
number that they can call after hours. Typically, this should be their surgeon's number. While
your docs may worry about the misuse of this information, I've had few patients, if any, abuse
the access in the years I've handed out mine. Instead, it simply gives them peace of mind and
enhances the physician-patient relationship. — Thomas Fleeter, MD
