2020 Volume 56 Issue 3 Pages 253-261
Purpose: Owing to increases in the number of dual-career couples and nuclear families in recent years, it has become difficult to adjust the schedule of operations in pediatric patients. Another problem is that pediatric patients often become suddenly ill, and the day of surgery may need to be rescheduled. To solve these problems and increase convenience to their parents, we introduced an Internet reservation system for booking the schedule of surgery and assessed its effectiveness.
Methods: We introduced the Internet reservation system, which was developed by Doctor Cube Co., Ltd., for the management of reservations of elective operations such as radical operation of inguinal hernia from September 2017. The patients’ families’ satisfaction and the operation waiting period were investigated to determine the effect of the Internet reservation system.
Results: The patients’ families’ satisfaction with the reservation method was significantly higher in the Internet group (n = 12) than in the conventional group (n = 28) (4.8 ± 0.4 and 4.1 ± 0.9, respectively, p = 0.027). The operation waiting period was significantly longer in the Internet group (n = 13) than in the conventional group (n = 28) (176 and 75 days, respectively, median, p = 0.004).
Conclusions: The Internet reservation system of the operation day could be introduced without significant problems, and satisfaction of the patients’ families was higher with the Internet reservation system. However, since the operation waiting period may become longer with the Internet reservation system than with the conventional reservation method, when using the Internet reservation system, special consideration should be given to patients with diseases that require early operation.
