When a surgery is scheduled, a timed WhatsApp sequence delivers fasting rules, medication stops, and arrival details exactly when patients need them — each step requiring a tap to confirm. Anyone who doesn't confirm surfaces on a nurse call list automatically.
Typical results
93%
Instruction steps confirmed
9 hrs/wk
Nurse calling time saved
+9
Surgery slots filled monthly
Figures reflect typical results for this kind of automation.
The challenge
Patients received a printed instruction sheet weeks before surgery — and forgot it. Someone would eat breakfast before anesthesia, keep taking blood thinners, or show up an hour late, and the procedure slot was lost. Nurses spent hours phoning every patient the day before, and still one in ten surgeries collapsed on the day.
Before and after
Day-of cancellations
−64%Patients confirming instructions
2.7×Nurse time on reminder calls
−75%The automation
We built a Make scenario that starts the moment a surgery lands in the scheduling system. Based on the procedure type, it plans a timed WhatsApp sequence: medication stops a week out, fasting rules the evening before, arrival time and directions on the morning itself. Every message ends with a tap-to-confirm button, confirmations are logged per step, and any patient who hasn't confirmed by the deadline appears on the nurses' call list.
How it works
- 01
Surgery booked
A new entry in the scheduling system triggers a sequence matched to the procedure type.
- 02
Timed delivery
Medication stops a week out, fasting rules the evening before, arrival details on the morning itself.
- 03
Tap to confirm
Every message ends with a one-tap confirmation button, logged per step per patient.
- 04
Exceptions surface
Patients who miss a confirmation deadline appear automatically on the nurses' call list.
- 05
Ready on the day
The surgical team sees a confirmed checklist for every patient on the list.
Starts from
- Surgery scheduled
- Procedure protocols
Delivers
- Timed WhatsApp steps
- Tap-to-confirm
- Nurse call list
The impact
Day-of cancellations fell from 11% of scheduled surgeries to 4% — a 64% drop — and 93% of patients now confirm every instruction step. Nurses cut reminder calling from twelve hours a week to three, and the center fills roughly nine additional surgery slots every month.
Questions about this automation
How are instructions matched to each procedure?
Each procedure type has its own protocol: which medications to stop and when, fasting rules and arrival time. When a surgery is booked, the flow reads the procedure from the scheduling system and schedules the matching messages backward from the surgery date. Clinical staff own the protocol text and can update it at any time.
What happens when a patient doesn't confirm a step?
Each message has a confirm button and a deadline. If the patient hasn't tapped it in time, they appear on the nurses' call list with the step they missed, so calls go only to patients who need them. The surgical team sees each patient's confirmation status on the day.
What if the surgery date changes?
When the date or time changes in the scheduling system, the flow cancels the pending messages and rebuilds the sequence around the new date, so a patient never gets fasting rules for the wrong day. A cancelled surgery stops the sequence completely, and no further instructions are sent.