SUFU 2021: Patient Perspectives Undergoing Same-Day Discharge for Apical Pelvic Organ Prolapse Repair Surgery During COVID-19 Pandemic

(UroToday.com) As COVID shut down most elective procedures so as to minimize hospitalizations, many tertiary health care systems implemented strategies to ensure patient safety and satisfaction while preserving the quality of care. One such strategy reported here was same-day discharge (SDD) following transvaginal and minimally invasive apical pelvic organ prolapse (POP) repair surgery. Usually, these patients are kept overnight, to limit hospital stay.

Nine patients were recruited (robotic/laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy with supracervical hysterectomy n=3, transvaginal apical repair with hysterectomy n=4/without hysterectomy n=2). Postoperative surveys were collected from 21 patients and 17 patients were SDD (80.9%). Preoperatively, all patients preferred SDD. 15 of 17 (88%) SDD patients felt safer with SDD. 2 of 4 (50%) admitted patients would have preferred SDD. When asked to rate the level of influence of COVID-19 on their discharge preference (scale 1-10, 10 being high), six reported a level 10 (mean of 8.9 ± 2.2). Eight patients underwent SDD and one was admitted overnight for nausea. Postoperatively, patients reported feeling safer with SDD. The admitted patient would have preferred SDD. These 2 outcomes may have been affected by the patient’s concern for the transmitting of COVID. During the COVID-19 pandemic, SDD after an apical POP repair surgery was preferable in this small patient population. 

Presented by: Megan Mathew; Alejandra Guevara Mendez, MD; Raveen Syan, MD; Laura Martin, DO; Katherine Amin, MD | University of Miami, Department of Urology, Miami, FL

Written by: Diane K. Newman, DNP, CRNP, FAAN, BCB-PMD, Nurse Practioner and Co-Director, Penn Center for Continence and Pelvic Health Adjunct Professor of Urology in Surgery during the 2021 Society of Urodynamics, Female Pelvic Medicine & Urogenital Reconstruction (SUFU) Winter Meeting