Short video greetings from surgeons to patients could help patients understand their surgery, reduce anxiety and avoid unnecessary follow-ups.
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust in the UK has seen success since launching an innovative approach using personalised ‘Cameo’-style messages.
The Harrogate Post Procedure Patient Innovation (HAPPI) Project enables surgeons to record a short, tailored video for patients on the day of their procedure.
In these videos, surgeons explain what was done during the operation, what to expect during recovery and any important next steps.
Similar to the celebrity Cameo platform, where people can request messages from famous faces, the videos are designed to help patients revisit important information after they have fully recovered from the effects of anaesthesia or sedation.
Research has shown that patients can forget up to 80% of the medical information they receive immediately after surgery.
Before the introduction of the HAPPI Project, around 75% of day surgery patients felt they needed a further appointment to clarify information about their treatment.
Since the introduction of the personalised videos, that figure has fallen dramatically, with only 15% of patients saying they felt they needed a follow-up appointment.
The initiative was first launched for patients undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery, but has since expanded to include hand and shoulder surgery and gynaecology procedures, with plans to roll it out across more specialties in the future.
David Duffy, a consultant in trauma and orthopaedics at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, who led the project, said: ‘This is a simple, highly effective and inexpensive solution to a genuine problem all healthcare providers face.
‘Expecting a patient to remember details of surgery, recovery and important milestones after they have been anaesthetised or sedated is not realistic. Providing a simple video message that patients or carers can view multiple times provides clarity and improves the quality of healthcare delivered. The potential benefits of this initiative are enormous when scaled across the NHS, with minimal implementation cost.’
Mr Duffy said the Trust had developed a blueprint to help other hospitals introduce the approach into everyday clinical practice.
Dr Jacqueline Andrews, executive medical director at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said the project demonstrated the Trust’s commitment to improving patient care through innovation.
She said: ‘I would like to congratulate everyone who has worked on this project. HAPPI is helping us further improve the healthcare we can provide for our patients by giving them information about their treatment in an easily accessible way. By reducing the number of appointments required for individuals, we can offer these to other people requiring our help, which will ultimately reduce waiting times for patients to be seen.’
The Trust says the project’s success has already sparked interest among other NHS organisations seeking to adopt the same approach.
