Bringing A Post-Operative Nurse Home After Surgery in Kansas
For a patient who had surgery, recovering from anesthesia in a surgical facility is only the first part of their recovery journey. Their second part begins upon discharge home to recover from their actual procedure. This is the more time consuming part of the recovery process which is often left up to the patient and their support system to navigate alone, with only a few post-procedure follow ups with their surgeon. At these follow ups, the surgeon prioritizes ruling out complications with the procedure and procedural site. Once this patient gets home, who is the medical professional that is prioritizing the patient and how the procedure is affecting their daily life?
Advancements in surgical care have made it possible for more patients to undergo procedures while decreasing their need for hospitalization. This reduction in hospital stays can provide meaningful benefits, including the opportunity to recover in familiar surroundings with loved ones by a patient’s side. But it also changes where the burden of recovery falls. Patients who once had ongoing support from nurses and other healthcare professionals may suddenly find themselves responsible for managing medications, self-cares, performing daily activity with restrictions, and managing symptoms while deciding if said symptoms are normal—all from their own homes (Thoen et al., 2024).
This deep dive into patients’ feelings around recovery made one point very clear, patients want to recover at home, but they do not want to feel alone in recovery. That realization is at the heart of why KAM Health was created. The home should not become the place where a patient loses clinical oversight simply because the surgical procedure is over. Skilled nursing presence in the home can expand the surgical team’s ability to provide patient support beyond the surgical facility walls while keeping the surgeon’s clinical plan at the forefront of care.
What Happens When the Patient Gets Home?
The transition from surgery to home can look straightforward from the healthcare system’s perspective. The patient arrives and is prepped for surgery. The surgeon performs the procedure and writes thorough discharge instructions. The recovery room nurse manages the patient’s pain and provides a quick run-through of the discharge instructions. The patient is dressed and sent home with their support person. For the patient, however, this transition can be much more convoluted. Thoen et al. (2024) conducted a meta-ethnography of 12 qualitative studies involving adult patients who underwent elective day surgery. It was found that patients wanted tailored information and struggled with pinpointing and understanding their postoperative symptoms. The review concluded that individualized information, care, and support throughout recovery were important components of the patient satisfaction experience. This is not just a problem of patients needing to read their discharge paperwork more carefully.
It is a problem of perspective. It is possible for a patient to understand discharge instructions while sitting in a recovery room and still struggle to apply said instruction hours later while experiencing pain, drowsiness, nausea and limited mobility. Larsson et al. (2022) found this particularly clearly among patients recovering from orthopedic day surgery. Their experiences included wanting confirmation that their recovery was going well and feeling lonely. The authors deduced that periodic follow-up could provide support, reduce loneliness, and increase patients’ sense of safety. So, maybe the most effective question isn’t, “Did we give the patient instructions?” But instead “Who is there when the patient has questions?” That is where the gap becomes visible.
The Patient’s Most Painful Experience Is Not Always Incision
Pain is typically highly anticipated after a procedure, however there are several other areas of concern that are common. Keny et al. (2024) interviewed older adults at month one and three after major elective surgery to understand their lived postoperative experience. The findings identified three major themes. Firstly, patients were caught off guard by the intensity and duration of symptoms. Secondly, postoperative symptoms interfered with daily activities and psychosocial well-being. And thirdly, patients wanted additional help, resources, and education for managing symptoms at home. In the first month, postoperative pain was the most commonly reported symptom in 63.1% of participants as well as gastrointestinal discomfort and anxiety/stress in 42.1%. At month three, pain and depression were each reported in 35.3% of participants (Keny et al., 2024).
The most influential message in the study was not a number but the patient’s experience of being unprepared for what recovery actually felt like. This should matter to every single surgical practice. Procedural complications are not the only markers for a failing recovery experience. A patient can be medically stable and still be scared to discharge. A patient can receive thorough discharge instructions and still be overburdened. A patient can be grateful for the surgeon and still feel completely unprepared for recovery at home.
Why KAM Health Is Specific to Recovery at Home
KAM Health was founded on the principle that the recovery experience at home deserves an equally elevated level of clinical oversight. The research raises questions around patients discharging home with recovery concerns, unfamiliar symptoms, confusion, mobility limitations, and a need for concierge/personalized support (Larsson et al., 2022; Thoen et al., 2024). KAM Health’s answer is to bring skilled nursing expertise into that environment. The goal is not to tell patients to “follow the discharge instructions” but instead provide a nurse with recovery expertise who can help them understand what the instructions mean in the context of what is happening to them in that moment.
Skilled nursing oversight can equip the patient’s home environment with the clinical, emotional, and physical needs necessary for a less lonely recovery. The nurse can perform full patient assessments, reinforce personalized education, assist with self-care, evaluate symptoms, communicate significant findings to the appropriate provider and so much more. The value is not simply that a nurse is present. The true value is that the patient no longer has to carry the entire recovery burden on their own.
To the Patient Preparing for Surgery
You often are very prepared for the procedure you are having but often not for the recovery that will consume your life after. You deserve support when the instructions make sense in recovery but become hard to manage in real life. You deserve to know that each concern you have is valid and an assessment at home can be made available to you. You deserve to know that al though procedures can be identical recovery is unique to the individual.
The evidence from patients themselves tells us that individualized support matters. KAM Health was created to make that kind of support possible in the home. The goal is not to have patients become dependent on nursing care. The goal is to help patients become confident participants and feel thoroughly supported in their recovery.
To the Surgeons and Surgical Practices
For surgeons, this is not about losing the patient relationship. It is about strengthening it. The surgeon owns the surgical plan. The surgical practice understands the procedure, expected recovery, restrictions, warning signs, and follow-up requirements. KAM Health can serve as the skilled clinical presence helping the patient navigate those instructions by:
1. Extending the relationship beyond discharge
Larsson et al. (2022) found that patients wanted verification that their recovery was going well and noted the absence of routine follow-up for many patients. Similarly, Thoen et al. (2024) highlighted that continued professional support is important and described nursing visits, scheduled calls, and follow-up as useful approaches. A partnership with a skilled home-health agency fosters an opportunity to establish that connection intentionally.
2. Making recovery more personalized
Patients do not recover in carbon-copy homes, with carbon-copy support systems, or with carbon-copy physical and emotional needs. Thoen et al. (2024) found that patients wanted personal adaptation of information, care, timing, and support. The authors particularly recommended considering patients’ individual needs, home conditions, and available assistance before surgery. KAM Health can assist that process by bringing skilled nursing assessment into the patient’s actual recovery environment.
3. Give patients somewhere to turn when every day uncertainty appears
Keny et al. (2024) demonstrated that postoperative symptoms can be persistent and troublesome and that patients may not tell their physicians every symptom. A structured postoperative nursing relationship builds another layer of care where patients can communicate concerns more frequently. It can also allow for clinically significant information to get back to the surgical team in a timely manner, allowing room for quicker intervention as necessary.
A Better Postoperative Partnership
Imagine a concierge-level postoperative experience. Before surgery, the patient understands both the procedure and what the first several days at home may look like. The surgical practice pinpoints patients who may benefit from additional skilled recovery support. KAM Health receives the appropriate clinical information and works within the surgeon’s plan. The patient discharges home to a nurse ready to assess the patient, observe the recovery, reinforce education, assist in safe self-care, and communicate relevant concerns to the surgical team.
Instead of immediately transitioning from professional care to self-management, the patient has a skilled nursing resource available in the home. That is the opportunity. This opportunity for KAM Health may not directly reduce complications, readmissions, emergency room visits, or costs, however, the research does establish a patient need for more individualized information, persistent support, symptom-management assistance, and more frequent follow-up during recovery at home. That is enough reason to ask a different question, what could happen if we intentionally supported the patient in the place where most of recovery actually occurs?
Let’s Make the Transition Home Better
Clinical oversight should not stop at the operating table, it should extend to the patient’s bedroom, the ultimate recovery room. To the first night home. To the moment when the patient wonders whether their symptom is normal. To the other moment when they are experiencing pain, fatigue, gastrointestinal symptoms and mobility limitations. Patients are telling us what they need. Ultimately, they want to participate in their recovery without being abandoned to manage it alone. The patient invested deeply in their surgery and as the surgeon you helped them become prepared for it. The recovery deserves the same intentionality as the procedure itself. You can set them up for recovery success too. Partner with KAM Health to explore a postoperative recovery model designed around the patient’s life as a whole not just the discharge paperwork.
References
Keny, C., Dillon, E. C., Russell, M. M., Colley, A., Yank, V., & Tang, V. (2024). “It’s incapacitated me in so many ways”: Older adults’ lived experience with postoperative symptoms at home following major elective surgery. Annals of Surgery, 279(5), 736–742. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10997446/
Larsson, F., Strömbäck, U., Rysst Gustafsson, S., & Engström, Å. (2022). Postoperative recovery: Experiences of patients who have undergone orthopedic day surgery. Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing, 37(4), 515–520. https://www.jopan.org/article/S1089-9472(21)00361-0/fulltext
Thoen, C. W., Sæle, M., Strandberg, R. B., Eide, P. H., & Kinn, L. G. (2024). Patients’ experiences of day surgery and recovery: A meta-ethnography. Nursing Open, 11(1), e2055. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10701296/
By Kerri-Ann Villanueva, BSN, BSC, RN
Founder & Administrator | Nurse-led health education & recovery insights
KAM Health educational products are intended to provide general educational information. Guides, workbooks, journals, and other educational materials are not intended to replace individualized medical evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, or instructions from a qualified healthcare professional. Information contained in a KAM Health publication does not create a nurse-patient relationship by itself. If you are experiencing a medical emergency, seek emergency medical attention immediately.
