Short summary

Patients' "Sense of Coherence" (SOC) influence their ability to cope with stressful situations and is therefore an important factor in assessment of patients and planning of care and treatment. Consequently, it is relevant to identify patients' SOC prior to anetheasia and surgery. Using a survey design, this project aims to investigate if the IT platform "My Course" (Mit Forløb) can be used as a health technology tool to identify patients' SOC prior to anesthesia and surgery.

Rationale

Existing research shows that patients' "Sense of Coherence" (SOC) influence their ability to cope with stressful situations. The SOC is a resource that enables people to manage tension and cope with stressful situations by identifying and using their general resistance resources. This capacity is a combination of people's ability to assess and understand the situation they are in (comprehensibility), to find meaning in the situation (meaningfulness), and to have the capacity to handle the situation and move in a health-promoting direction (manageability). This way the SOC is causally related to health status and patients ability to cope with stress. 

In relation to anesthesia and surgery, previous research performed at Odense University Hospital showed that patients with a weak SOC perceived more noise and experienced more stress during the preanesthesia period in the operating room. Furthermore, patients with a weak SOC experienced more pain and consumed more opioids postoperatively in the post anesthesia care unit than patients with a strong SOC. Existing literature also suggest a relation between treatment outcomes and patients' SOC. Ristner et al. identified a weak SOC as a risk factor for suboptimal treatment outcomes after orthopedic surgery. Consequently, SOC measurements enable the identification of patients in need of specific treatment, care, support, and information. Therefore, the SOC can be considered an important factor which health professionals advantageously can include in their assessment of patients and planning of perianesthesia and -operative patient care and treatment. From a professional health care perspective, it is therefore relevant to identify patients' SOC prior to anesthesia and surgery.

The development within health technology provides new opportunities for interaction between patients and health professionals. An example is the App "Mit Forløb" which is a smartphone app for patients connected to the hospitals in The Region of Southern Denmark. Through this app patients can access information and communicate with the hospitals from home. The app is currently used by 20.000 patients and increasing. App "Mit Forløb" supplies health professionals with a health technology tool that can possibly be used to measure and identify patients' SOC prior to anesthesia and surgery while patients are still at home. In the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care at Odense University Hospital (OUH) we decided to initiate a project that explores this opportunity. The project is planned to be conducted in collaboration with the Day Surgery Unit at OUH (OLAV), the Department of Quality, Research, Innovation and Education (KFIU) and Odense Patient Explorative Network (OPEN).?

The main purpose of this project is to investigate if App "Mit Forløb" can be used as a health technology tool to identify Patients' SOC prior to anesthesia and surgery. Furthermore, we wish to explore if App "Mit Forløb" is a useful health technology tool to facilitate interaction between health professionals and patients with a weak SOC. We believe knowledge derived from this project can lead to new projects exploring special needs of patients with a weak SOC and development of interventions targeting these patients.

Description of the cohort

Orthopeadic patients undergoing hip or knee surgery connected to "My Course" (Mit Forløb).

Data and biological material

Survey data (questionnaires) and demografic data (gender, age, surgery type).

Collaborating researchers and departments

Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Odense University Hospital

• Clinical Nurse Researcher Dorthe Hasfeldt-Hansen, PhD & Post Doc

Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Odense University Hospital

• Developing Nurse Anette Wulff, MKS