No news, bad news? A deeper examination of the correlation between patient functional status and level of postoperative telephone communication with the surgical team.

Abstract

102 Background: In attempts to improve outcomes for and survival of geriatric oncology patients, studies have demonstrated the utility of phone communication as a tool for post-operative care. However, very little data is available to determine if this method of care is reaching the most vulnerable patients. The purpose of this study is to compare patient-surgical team phone communication for geriatric cancer patients of higher and lower preoperative functional status. Methods: This is a retrospective review of data from an internal geriatric assessment questionnaire and phone log data as recorded in the EHR at a single institution. Patients were stratified into two groups: those who had at least one recorded postoperative care phone call (PC) and those with no postoperative care phone call (NPC). Quantitative analysis of the data was performed, assessing the correlation between preoperative functional status and patient-surgical service communication in the first 30 postoperative days. Results: NPC group patients were more likely to be amongst the more frail patients, with lower preoperative functional status and a higher level of distress. Specifically, patients in the NPC group were more likely to be dependent for ADLs (61.0% vs. 50.8%, P = 0.013) and IADLs (59.6% VS. 44.7%, P = 0.001), and have a lower Karnofsky Performance Scale score (46.2% vs. 39.1%, P = 0.048) and also reported a higher level of distress (4.5 vs. 4.00, P = 0.001). There was a trend toward more cognitive impairment among the NPC group compared to the PC group (18.2% vs. 12.1%, P = 0.058). Conclusions: Our study highlights a disparity in the utilization of patient-surgical team phone calls as a method for postoperative care for more frail patients. Despite significant number of phone calls initiated during the postoperative period, mainly by surgical nurses, frail and distressed patients are more likely not to participate in a call. Future studies of postoperative phone communication with geriatric oncology patients should assess the utility of this tool for more frail patients and seek measures that will increase access and participation among this population.