Implementing My PreHab Program: How digital technology helped to bridge the hospital-community gap and streamline hospital processes

Abstract

Surgery is a key component of healthcare systems, however, a patient’s journey to surgery can be long and complicated. Public patients awaiting non-urgent surgery, frequently experience significant periods on ‘hidden’ outpatient and surgical waitlists. Post-operative complications are also common, affecting 20% of procedures, placing a substantial burden on both patients and the healthcare system. These complications are associated with worse psychosocial outcomes, delayed function recovery, financial costs and reduced patient flow. With increasingly constrained resources, an ageing population and growing burden of chronic disease, there are challenges in providing accessible, affordable, and safe elective surgery. Prehabilitation (prehab) is any intervention prior to surgery aimed at improving health and wellbeing and developing physiological reserve to cope with the stress of surgery. With a clear need for earlier health optimisation, the challenge was supporting patients to prepare well for surgery without dedicated funding to support on-site, in-person prehab.

Keywords

• digital technology
• hospital-community gap
• streamline