Fasten Your Seatbelts, Your Surgery is About to Begin
Think about the last flight you took, specifically, the safety demonstration. Many airlines now have a video that completely covers all procedures one would undergo in the event of an emergency. These videos feature animations of life vests being inflated, aisle lights guiding passengers to the exits and orange ramps unfurling into tranquil waters. All of this is done to ensure the safety and education of the passengers as well as calm their nerves, and yet the chances of them needing to actually utilize any of this knowledge is somewhere in the 1-in-a-million ballpark. Now think about the materials most pre-surgical patients have at their disposal: a talk with the doctor and maybe a pamphlet or two.
The chances of the patient undergoing the procedure can be close to 100% in the case of non-elective surgeries, but the information conveyed to them requires a notepad and strong googling skills. This doesn’t seem right, does it? Especially since what the patients find on Google are more likely to be the comments from those who have had poor results and videos far more graphics than they need to see. And what about elective procedures, where the patient can literally talk him or herself out of the procedure after “researching” it.
Luckily this educational method is changing, albeit slowly. Part of the reason that the airlines have these snazzy videos and doctors don’t is cost: clinics and hospitals have very little budgetary allowances to produce their own medical animations. It’s long been considered “optional.” However this, too, is changing as administrators have come to the realization that educational animations can save their doctors and physicians vast amounts of time (and therefore money).
DG Medical Animation’s new patient education products are designed so that the medical professional can spend less time going over the 3 basic pre-operational questions:
1) What is the issue?
2) What will be done (procedurally or surgically) to correct it?
3) What does the patient need to be aware of in order to best take care of themselves and maximize the chances of a successful outcome?
Removing some of the explanatory burden from the doctor means a greater number of consults can be had each day. On the other side of the coin, the patient will get a more informative experience with the animated video, seeing exactly how the procedure will be done and what steps they need to take, which increases their retention rate by as much as 15%. Moreover, they can view the video as many times as they like, giving them greater comfort and familiarity with each viewing. These videos can be played in the doctor’s office, by a nurse or PA, or at home on the physician’s or hospital’s website.
Where did this idea come from? Like so many things, it came from personal experience. A couple of years ago I was indicated for a back surgery called microdiscectomy. After my consult with a renowned surgeon, I still had questions about what was really going to happen and I turned to Google. I found such scary information online that I decided not to have the surgery!
These animations can:
- Reduce patient anxiety
- Save the doctor time
- Improve post-procedure compliance
- Help improve patient outcomes
Recently, I was watching Sunday Night Football and they had a brief segment on the Vikings’ starting quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater’s, ACL tear, complete with a very smooth animation of exactly how the ACL works and gets severed. (Unfortunately, I cannot find the animation online anywhere.) I realized then that the average viewer probably had a better understanding of this stranger’s injury than they did of their own upcoming and past procedures, all because of the educational power of animation.
It is my hope that DG Medical Animations’ new suite of patient education animations will help change this fact, because everyone deserves to know exactly what’s being done to help them. Hopefully, it will soon be as ubiquitous as the pre-flight safety video.
My previous post on this subject cited several studies that support the value of medical animation, so please check that post out as well.
DG Medical Animations’ patient education videos will be officially launched at the North American Spine Society’s annual meeting in Boston this October 26–29, 2016. Those wishing to get early access can reach out to me directly.
