As part of the COVID-19: Surgeons Toolkit for Discussions with Patients, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) has developed additional resources to help surgeons communicate with their patients about the steps hospitals are taking to ensure a safe surgical experience. These include:
- Preparing to Have Surgery during the Time of COVID-19
ACS guidance to talk with your surgeon about returning to the health care facility. - Surgeon-Patient Discussion Worksheet
To prepare for your discussion with patients about having surgery during the time of COVID-19, use this worksheet to fill in your answers before you meet.
ACS has adapted several of these resources into a separate toolkit. These include:
Social Media Templates
The toolkit provides sample social media posts that can be used on your social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram accounts to help promote and communicate the safe return to hospitals for surgery. These templates can be adjusted to fit your personal tone and style. Consider adding a more personal call to action directed at your patients. Image templates are also provided for adaptation for Facebook and Twitter.
Script for Videos
Create a video directed at patients with the customizable script that can be used as a guide and adjusted to fit your personal tone and style. Remember to keep videos short—the optimal length is 60 seconds or less—and be cognizant of your background and lighting, as well as your pace of speech. The goal is to leverage your trusted voice to help instill confidence that your health care facility is safe to return to for necessary surgical care. You may also wish to consider contacting your hospital’s media relations staff for assistance in recording the video message.
Draft an Article for your Practice Website
Also provided is a suggested informational article that can be posted to your hospital/practice websites. The article addresses patients’ ongoing concerns about returning for procedures that were delayed by COVID-19. Including your hospital’s media team in the development of this article can help ensure quality content and a wider audience.
Should you need assistance as you use these tools to navigate patient communications, you may reach out to the ACS Integrated Communications team at covid19@facs.org.