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Optimizing the Patient for Surgery: The Pre-op Psychological Survey

 

A read-worthy article, recently published in OR Management News.

 

It is obvious that optimizing the patient prior to surgery is essential for maximizing desirable outcomes. While these efforts typically focus on managing comorbidities and assessing physiologic parameters, “comprehensive” optimization is achieved by including attention to the psychological status of the surgical patient.

With evolving specialization in surgery and increasing sophistication of procedures, psychological evaluations have become integral in the evaluation of patients for certain operations, such as bariatric, transplant and pain-related orthopedic surgeries.

The benefits of psychological “preparation” of surgical patients has been proposed as an important consideration.

Less developed, in contrast to specialized psychological evaluations, is a simple and broad approach to assessing every patient’s psychological state in a manner appropriate for use by the surgeon involved in the case. Psychological preparation of the patient requires a first step of evaluation through a preoperative psychological survey (POPS).

 

Read the full article at:  Optimizing the Patient for Surgery: The Pre-op Psychological Survey – OR Management News

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What Aesthetic Procedures and Treatments are Trending Right Now?

 

RealSelf is a leading online marketplace for consumers to research cosmetic treatments and physicians. The RealSelf 2018 Aesthetics Trend Report was compiled by analysing user behaviour trends from U.S. consumers researching on RealSelf during 2018.

 

Trend Overview.

“While we continue to see high interest for surgical procedures, advancements in technology have expanded minimally invasive treatment options and helped to make aesthetics more accessible to women and men of all ages.” “The growth of minimally invasive procedures reflects the rising interest in treatment options that deliver results with little downtime, and the trends we’ve observed on RealSelf indicate this demand will continue to rise in 2019.”

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Top Ten most reaserched

 

Key Findings:

Most Researched Minimally Invasive Treatments: Interest in Injectables Remains High

Injectables continue to be a top trend and were some of the most researched treatments in 2018, with three out of the top 10 most researched minimally invasive procedures being injectables.

Most Researched Surgical Treatments: Procedures for the Breasts, Tummy Top the List

Interest in surgical treatments for the breasts, from augmentation to lifts to reduction, remained high in 2018. While breast augmentation leads the top 10 list, breast reduction is also popular, coming in at No.7. Mommy makeover follows at No. 8, and breast lift rounds out the list at No. 10.

On the Rise: Treatments Designed to Improve Skin

Treatments that improve skin conditions—from acne to scars to discoloration—saw rapid interest growth in 2018, taking five spots on the top 10 list of fastest-growing minimally invasive treatments.

 

Hair Growth Treatments Trending Up

A growing number of consumers are researching hair restoration, with two treatments making the top 10 list of fastest-growing minimally invasive treatments. PRP for Hair Loss takes the No. 4 spot with 20 percent growth compared to 2017.

 

Interest in Niche Surgical Procedures for the Face, Ears Increasing

Topping the surgical list with the highest year-over-year growth is thread lift, which saw a 42 percent jump in interest compared to 2017.

 

The 2019 Aesthetics Watch List

 The Year of the Toxins

According to RealSelf, interest in Botox is increasing the fastest among 18- to 24-year-old RealSelf users. While Botox is the frontrunner today, up-and-coming entrants from companies like Revance and Evolus could bring increased competition to the neuromodulator market.

Less Invasive Alternatives to Traditional Procedures

This year saw sizable spikes in interest for nonsurgical treatments that offer a less invasive alternative to traditional surgery. The body contouring treatment Emsculpt, which ranked among the top emerging treatments of 2018, is one example.

Another is the off-label use of fillers. Sculptra Aesthetic, which saw 31 percent interest growth last year, is FDA-approved to treat facial wrinkles, but a growing number of doctors are using the injectable for buttock augmentation.

Expanded Conversations About Modern Beauty

Celebrities and other influencers have helped elevate the conversation and reduce the stigma around cosmetic procedures by sharing their treatment experiences on social media. As advancements in technology help make aesthetics accessible to a wider audience, more people have the ability to choose procedures that support their individuality and personal definition of beauty.

U.S. Trends in Cosmetic Procedures. Are there lessons here for Australian Clinics?

US ASPS Logo

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) has just released data from their most recent study of cosmetic procedure trends, showing the comparative results from 2017 versus 2016.

https://www.plasticsurgery.org/news/press-releases/new-statistics-reveal-the-shape-of-plastic-surgery

 

The report shows overall growth of 2% in the total number of procedures undertaken (year-on-year). It also highlighted the rapid growth in the “minimally invasive procedure” category, which is up nearly 200% since Year 2000.

 

Top performers in the “Minimally Invasive” category were: Cellulite treatment, Platelet Rich Plasma and Fat Freezing.

 

Highest growth in the “Surgical” category were: Hair Transplantation and Breast Reduction. (Interestingly, the number of Buttock Implant procedures fell by 56%.)

 

The key charts within the report are a little dense and difficult to see in the online version, so we’ve taken the liberty to summarise the most significant results for both categories below:

 

 

ASPS Chart 2

ASPS Chart 1

 

ASAPS Conference Presentation

Just a couple of weeks to go until the 40th Annual Conference of Australian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons.

We’re delivering a presentation featuring the results of Case Studies, demonstrating how Patient Experience Programs have delivered successful outcomes for 2 different clinics.

Date:Friday 20th October, 2017.

Session time: 3:30pm to 5:30pm

Here’s a preview of what we’ll be covering…

New Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation

Negative Online Patient Reviews: How to minimise the impact on your practice reputation.

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Our presentation at yesterday’s Cosmetex 2017 Practice Business Management session was a big hit.

 

The following slide in particular stirred up quite a buzz among the conference delegates.

We analysed over 6,000 responses to Patient Feedback surveys to identify the Top 10 issues that patients noted as unsatisfactory regarding their experience at cosmedical practices.

Top 10 Slide 2

 

Question: Which would you consider to be the better outcome?

  • Receiving a complaint directly from your patient, so it can be dealt with internally and discretely; or
  • Having the patient air their grievances publically, by posting them in an online forum, for everyone to see.

 

Something to think about.

BIG NEWS…We’re presenting at ASAPS 2017.

Cover slide 2

 

Insight is delighted to have been invited to present at the upcoming conference of the Australasian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons.

We’ll be delivering a paper showcasing the findings from case studies of 2 different clinics that employ Patient Experience Programs.

 

If you’d like to learn how they achieved dramatic improvements in their customer experience and patient loyalty, you won’t want to miss this.

 

See you at: The 40th Annual ASAPS Conference

The Grand Hyatt – Melbourne

3.30pm, Friday 20th October

 

http://asapsevents.org.au/2017-40th-annual-asaps-conference

 

Online Forums – Is a negative review necessarily there for all eternity?

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Love ’em or hate ’em, those online review sites can have a big impact on the reputation and public perception of a practice. Any negative reviews could be influencing potential clients years after it was posted, potentially for as long as the forum exists.

 

Sites such as Google Review and Yelp offer consumers a genuine opportunity to post their personal experiences of service providers, so others can consider whether or not to use them. They are however, subject to little scrutiny by the site administrators.

 

So what should you do if someone posts a review that may be questionable in accuracy or intent?

“Suffer the slings and arrows or take arms against a sea of troubles”? (Apologies to Mr Shakespeare).

 

Sites have rules that govern how and what can be posted. These are sometimes referred to as “Terms of Use” or “Content Guidelines”.      A review post which breaches those rules can be deleted, but it’s up to the business in question to request this.

 

You’ll need to know what the site rules are and show why the post contravenes them or evidence that the information is inaccurate or spurious. It can be difficult and time consuming but it can be done; as shown in this example:

 

We’re writing to let you know that we’ve evaluated _________________ review of _________Plastic Surgery that you recently reported. After assessing the review carefully against our Content Guidelines, we agree that this review should be removed.

We rely on community engagement to help keep Yelp useful. Thanks so much for taking the time to bring this matter to our attention!

 – The Yelp Support Team

 

The reputation of your practice is a critical business asset.

Be proactive and don’t be afraid to defend it, if necessary.