A quantitative, multicentre, longitudinal study of patient experiences after gynaecological day surgery

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to explore patients' experiences after gynaecological day surgery one and 30 days postoperatively, as well as potential factors influencing these experiences. Design: The study had a multicentre, quantitative, longitudinal design. Methods: The study was conducted in three different hospitals' day surgical unit and included patients undergoing gynaecological surgery in general anaesthesia. We used a questionnaire including the European Quality of Life tool (EQ5D3L), the Quality-of-Recovery-15 questionnaire (QoR-15) and items relating to patient experiences, the first day (T1, n = 444) and 30 days (T2, n = 193) after surgery. Data were collected in the period March 2019 to March 2020. Results: Results show that patients mainly had positive experiences and ranged quality of recovery high, even though some areas needed improvement. Patient scores on the QoR-15 relating to their experiences 24 h postoperative were rated higher at T1 than at T2. Twenty per cent of the respondents experienced complications such as infection, haemorrhage and pain. About 1/5 of these contacted healthcare services, and three per cent was hospitalized. EQ5D score was the only factor that made an statistically significant impact on patients' experiences with quality of recovery (R2.169, F = 82.87). However, this effect was weak.