Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Feb 4:9:2.
doi: 10.1186/s13741-019-0133-z. eCollection 2020.

The value of teachable moments in surgical patient care and the supportive role of digital technologies

Anna Robinson  1 , Robert Slight  2   3 , Andrew Husband  1 , Sarah Slight  1   3
Affiliations

The value of teachable moments in surgical patient care and the supportive role of digital technologies

Anna Robinson et al. Perioper Med (Lond). .

Abstract

Evidence strongly supports improved outcomes following surgery when patients are more physically active, have better dietary intake, or are generally fitter prior to surgery. Having an operation is a major life event for patients, and many are not educated around what they can do as individuals to aid a speedier and more successful recovery following their operation. What if there was a time point before surgery where clinicians could inspire patients to adjust their lifestyles for the better, in order to see fewer complications after surgery? This is where the concept of teachable moments comes into play. This commentary explores the concept of teachable moments and their value in surgical patient care and discusses the potentially under-utilized opportunities on hand to the surgical multidisciplinary team to remotely support patients using digital health technologies.

Keywords: Behavior change; Digital technology; Perioperative medicine; Surgery; Surgical improvement; Teachable moments.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Bluethmann SM, et al. Grasping the ‘teachable moment’: time since diagnosis, symptom burden and health behaviors in breast, colorectal and prostate cancer survivors. Psychooncology. 2015;24(10):1250–1257. doi: 10.1002/pon.3857. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Coleman KJ, et al. Understanding the capacity for exercise in post-bariatric patients. Obes Surg. 2017;27(1):51–58. doi: 10.1007/s11695-016-2240-y. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Grocott MPW, et al. Re-designing the pathway to surgery: better care and added value. Perioper Med (London, England) 2017;6:9. doi: 10.1186/s13741-017-0065-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kelly MP, Barker M. Why is changing health-related behaviour so difficult? Public health. 2016;136:109–116. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2016.03.030. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lee MK, et al. A web-based self-management exercise and diet intervention for breast cancer survivors: pilot randomized controlled trial. Int J Nurs Stud. 2014;51(12):1557–1567. doi: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2014.04.012. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources