[tgrass]

My first thought is there is little incentive for the patient to log on long after surgery (an hour is long for this situation). Perhaps consider actively engaging the patient after surgery by requesting an email pre-surgery. This cuts down a lot of user friction.

(I'm thinking now you may not be involved with the hospital. Find an online forum or manner to engage patient pre-surgery. It is much easier to identify them before when they are looking for help and info, than afterwards).

After surgery you send the email with a link with a unique id. If you are working with the hospital, you can have the patient's data associated with the id, decreasing the info required for them to enter.

Not sure from your post where you want input most. User experience? Web development?