Enhancing Patient Satisfaction Through the Implementation of Pre-operative Patient Education Videos: A Quality Improvement Initiative

Background: Initial surgical consultations are crucial for delivering comprehensive patient education, ensuring that patients understand the procedure, risks, and preoperative requirements. Inconsistencies exist in the content delivery and standardization of pre-operative patient education within the clinical setting, contributing to reduced patient satisfaction. A systematic literature review revealed that patients would benefit from a standardized, evidence-based education program.

Local Problem: At an outpatient surgical clinic, staff observed inconsistent patient adherence to pre-operative instructions, which led to increased dissatisfaction and potential post-operative complications. Internal evidence revealed the clinic’s reliance on varied verbal and written instructions as a key weakness in pre-operative education. To address this problem, a quality improvement project implemented a standardized educational video to ensure consistent and comprehensive pre-operative education for patients undergoing abdominal surgery.

Methods: This project utilized the Model for Improvement (MFI) to guide the development of evidence-based pre-operative videos that enhanced patient satisfaction. To ensure structured, iterative improvements that aligned with project goals, a series of Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles were implemented over an 8-week timeframe.

Intervention: The intervention provided all pre-operative abdominal surgical patients with standardized, evidence-based video patient education, which enhanced recall, adherence, and satisfaction. This project aimed to achieve a 5% increase in patient satisfaction.

Results: Over eight weeks, patients scheduled for outpatient abdominal surgery watched a pre-operative education video before meeting with the surgeon. All patients (100%) interacted with the video and completed the satisfaction survey. Post-implementation results showed a 7.5% rise in patient education satisfaction, with dissatisfaction rates dropping from 10% to 3.2%.

Conclusion: The project achieved a 7.5% increase in patient satisfaction, thereby surpassing its aim. Additional evidence-based quality improvement projects are needed to further explore and expand the use of patient education videos in the pre-operative setting. The implementation of the educational video enhanced patient satisfaction, demonstrating both cost-effectiveness and operational feasibility.