Contact with the hospital is usually limited for patients after daycare surgery. Dedicated smartphone applications can improve communication and possibly enhance outcomes. The objective of this retrospective study was to evaluate patients’ self-reported pain and nausea and assess the success of routine implementation of a smartphone application for outcome reporting. During preoperative assessment, patients were instructed to download and activate the smartphone application to report pain, nausea and to be in contact with the hospital after discharge. Main outcome was the number of patients actively using the smartphone application and the incidence of  pain and nausea on postoperative day 1 to 7. In total, 4952 patients were included in the study. A total of 592 (12%) participants downloaded the application, of whom 351 (7%) were active users. A total of 4360 (88%) participants refrained from downloading the application. 56% (2,769) were female, the median age was 46 (18-92), and 4286 (87%) were classified as 1 or 2 American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status (ASA). Postoperative pain was experienced by 174 (76%) of 229 active users on postoperative day (POD) 1 and decreased to 44 (44%) of 100 active users on POD7. Postoperative nausea was experienced by 63 (28%) of 229 active users on POD1 and decreased to 12 (12%) of 100 active users on POD7. Female sex (p .000), socioeconomic status (p .001), and surgical severity (p .001) showed statistically significant differences between active users, non-active users, and non-downloaders. Most patients active with the application experienced pain and nausea on the first and second day after discharge. Only a minority of the patients used the application. Those who used it were satisfied with the possibilities offered to them. Future research should focus on increasing the uptake and effect of this application on the quality of recovery.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Financial support and sponsorship: The SIDN fund, a public benefit organization for Dutch Internet domain registration (URL: www.SIDNfonds.nl), partially funded the development of the smartphone application. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or manuscript preparation.

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

Ethical approval for this study (WO 20.239) was provided by the medical ethics committee (ACWO) and institutional board of directors of OLVG hospital, Amsterdam, on 14 January 2021. Furthermore, the study was conducted according to the principles of Good Clinical Practice and in accordance with the declaration of Helsinki [12, 13].

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

Yes

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

Yes

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.

Yes

Data cannot be shared publicly because of the Netherlands general data protection regulation (GDPR). Data are available from the OLVG Hospital ETHICS COMMITTE (ACWO) acwo@olvg.nl for researchers who meet the criteria for access to confidential data.