Adult colorectal surgery patients continue to have high rates of readmissions, despite known risk factors for non-routine postdischarge care (emergency department (ED) visit or rehospitalization) and countless interventions to address these. It is unclear how the difficult-to-quantify patient perspective frames and modifies the impact of these quantifiable risk factors.

We identified consecutive adult inpatient colorectal surgery patients from 2017 to 2018. This mixed methods study merged data from electronic health records and in-depth patient interviews.

We enrolled 258 participants, surveyed 167, and interviewed 18. Depressive symptoms represent one of many risk factors confirmed to increase non-routine healthcare utilization (RR 1.85, 95% CI 1.02–3.37), though the patient perspective explained why these symptoms seemed to greatly impact some patients more than others. Additionally, consistent with patient report, patients with non-routine postdischarge care (26%) were less likely to report communication with their surgical team (80% vs 97%, p < 0.001).

Patient perspectives add depth and understanding of the impact of risk factors on non-routine post-discharge care. This expanded knowledge explains why one patient is more likely to visit an ED close to home whereas another patient might prefer to visit their surgeon’s clinic directly. Effective strategies to reduce unplanned postdischarge care should be tailored.

This mixed methods prospective cohort study integrated quantitative and qualitative findings to understand how and why certain individual risk-factors for readmission led a patient to seek non-routine postdischarge care after surgery, such as an ED visit or rehospitalization. The importance of these findings is that future adaptive implementation studies are warranted to target interventions not only towards discrete risk factors, but also to compensate for a patient’s preferences, background, and values.