Ideas That Work: Set Up a Surgery Hotline

Forcing loved ones to sit in their vehicles in the parking lot as part of COVID-19 restrictions made The Toledo (Ohio) Clinic Outpatient Surgery Center’s job of providing the best possible patient experience more difficult than ever. To ease everyone’s stress, the facility printed business cards with a dedicated phone number that family members could call for updates on their loved ones’ surgeries, whether it was about the timeline of their procedure or a more detailed question about their care. The staff member at the front desk who answers the hotline forwards the calls to the OR manager or the pre-op/PACU manager, who talks with the family members and responds to their questions. “This service improved our overall communication and helped to ease the fears and anxiety of patients and their loved ones,” says Director of Nursing Christi Teets, RN, BSN. The hotline has worked so well during the pandemic that there are no plans to stop passing out the cards as the facility gradually returns to its normal operations.