As outpatient surgery has become a more popular option, patients are forced to take their postoperative recovery into their own hands. Researchers aimed to test the feasibility in using mHealth to support patients and improve recovery following outpatient surgery.

“Recovery can be a time-consuming process that affects the patient’s physical and psychological status and includes regaining their preoperative social, habitual, psychological and physical functions,” wrote first author Karuna Dahlberg, RN, MSc, and colleagues. “As most of the recovery occurs outside the hospital after day surgery, self-care can be a central part of recovery. However, it has been reported that patients can feel lonely and unsure about how the recovery is proceeding and some feel that there was a lack of support after discharge.”

Researchers interviewed 18 patients who had undergone outpatient surgery and used the Recovery Assessment by Phone Points mHealth app to follow-up on recovery. Patients reported two themes when using the app: it’s important to use it as much as possible and it will help feelings of safety.

“It is important that patients feel safe, reassured, and acknowledged during their postoperative recovery,” concluded Dahlaberg and colleagues. “They can achieve this themselves with sufficient support and information from the health care organization and their next of kin. Using a mobile app, both for assessment and to enable contact with the day surgery unit during the postoperative recovery period, can improve care and create a feeling of not being alone after surgery. We propose that postoperative recovery starts in the pre-recovery phase when patients prepare for their recovery to get the best possible outcome from their surgery.”