Background

The coronavirus pandemic has led to the necessity of social distancing, and with that has come a rise in remote learning. With preoperative bariatric education being an essential aspect of the bariatric surgery process, it is imperative that we explore alternatives to traditional in-person bariatric preoperative education (PE). A standardized, digital, PE platform would allow patients to begin or continue the preoperative process remotely. Objectives: Compare a traditional, in-person, bariatric surgery preoperative education platform (TEP) with a digital education platform (DEP). Setting: Single Institution: Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC), Towson, Maryland.

Methods

Objective data was collected retrospectively for 1,006 patients who used either TEP (TEc cohort), DEP (DEc cohort), or both traditional and digital (TDc cohort). Categoric variables were analyzed using a two-sample proportion test and continuous variables were analyzed using unpaired t-tests with a p-value of <.05 considered significant.

Results

When compared to the TEc, the DEc had significantly lower attrition rates (p = 0.0065) and decreased time to surgery (p = 0.00003), while maintaining a preoperative BMI change similar to the TEc (p = 0.8136).

Conclusions

A digital education platform may allow more patients to complete their PE and subsequently proceed with life-saving surgery. Therefore, digital education should be an option for patients hoping to proceed with bariatric surgery.