Using Creative Activities to Improve the Postoperative Experience of Adult Patients

Unlike pediatric care that often benefits from child-life services, adult hospitals rarely offer structured engagement activities for postsurgical patients. To address this, we conducted a prospective, randomized survey-based study to evaluate the impact of creative engagement activities on adult inpatient experiences. Patients undergoing surgery between January and September 2023 were randomly assigned to either standard postoperative course or one that received an entertainment packet. Both cohorts completed a survey about their hospital experience. The intervention group reported significantly higher satisfaction: 95% agreed or strongly agreed with "I am satisfied with my hospital experience," compared to 65% in the control group (P = .045). Additionally, 65% of the intervention cohort reported a positive postoperative experience and 80% found their stay engaging versus 30% in the control cohort (P = .028 and P = .001, respectively). These findings suggest that creative entertainment can improve the postoperative experience for adult patients.