Till Örebro universitet

Background: Today the majority of surgeries are performed as day surgery. After surgery patients are responsible for their own recovery and self-care is a central part of postoperative recovery after day surgery.

Aim: To explore patients’ experience of postoperative recovery after day surgery when using a mobile phone application (app) for follow-up.

Design: Qualitative interview study with a descriptive and explorative design.

Settings: Four day surgery units in different parts of Sweden.

Participants: Eighteen participants who had undergone day surgery, ≥18 years of age and used a mobile app for follow-up on postoperative recovery after day surgery. Participants were purposively selected.

Methods: Interviews were individual and semi-structured. Thematic analysis as described by Braun and Clarke (2006) was used to analyze the data.

Findings: From the data two themes and six subthemes emerged: 1) Give it all you´ve got, with the subthemes Believing in own capacity, Being prepared and Taking action, 2) The importance of feeling safe and sound, with the subthemes Feeling safe and reassured, Not being acknowledged and Not being left alone. The first theme, Give it all you´ve got, describes how participants themselves act and contribute to improve their recovery. The second theme, The importance of feeling safe and sound, describes the importance of support from next of kind and health care during patients postoperative recovery.

Conclusions: Recovery after day surgery is a complex process, in which the patients need to prepare for and manage their recovery. This study highlights the importance of own preparation as crucial for a smooth recovery. Also, to have an easy way to get in contact with health care after day surgery, such as using digital follow up, may be a counteract for feeling left alone after surgery.

Implications for perianaesthesia nurses and future research

In perianesthesia nursing it is important to acknowledge patients need for support during postoperative recovery. It is also important to support patients in their preparation for surgery since this preparation has an impact on how the postoperative recovery is experienced. Further studies should explore how perianesthesia nurses can support patients to improve the pre-recovery phase in order to optimize postoperative recovery.