Authors (including presenting author) :
Lau SY(1), Wu PH (1), Lai TH (1)
Affiliation :
(1) Day Surgery Unit, Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital
Introduction :
Addressing the problem of long waiting time in treatment of non -emergency surgical disease is always the service pledge of Hospital Authority and our team’s mission.
In view of the long waiting list of Benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) in Urology patient, Transurethral Water Vapour Therapy is a novel minimally invasive technology for treatment to relieve patient’s suffer. Traditionally, this procedure consumes resources in Operating Theatre and hospital bed. Shifting this procedure to be done in day centre would certainly relieve hospital bed occupancy pressure, and most importantly it reduced patient’s waiting time for the procedure.
Objectives :
To reduce patient’s waiting time from 24 months to 4 months and relieve hospital bed occupancy pressure through the new initiative of one-stop service at Day Surgery Unit (DSU) AHNH.
Methodology :
With the support of hospital management, the urology team started this new service in DSU in November 2022. The existing treatment room was modified to accommodate and equip facilities to perform the procedure. Quality and safety on performing the procedure were ensured through collaboration with Infection control, Supplies and Administration.
A well-defined patient journey and logistics were established in which patient’s screening, assessment and follow up were all performed in the DSU and nursing team was the principle case manager for the monitor and evaluation throughout this new innovative day procedure.
Result & Outcome :
This program decreased in both the time taken to perform surgical procedures and their cost, taking advantage of the advance in surgical and local anaesthetic care. This program is a safe and effective treatment which under pure Local Anaesthesia and it reduces in hospital stay. The most important benefit that patient gained was the waiting time to treat BPH reduced from 24 months to 4 months (an 83.3 % reduction). Moreover, complications experienced by patient after the procedure reduced significantly during our follow up evaluation in the past year. Our experience has demonstrated “Water vapor therapy” in Day procedure setting is an innovative, safe and feasible minimally invasive option for patients. Besides, patients do not need to stay as in-patient due to complicated and risky anaesthetic procedure compared with the traditional procedure being done in operating theatre.
