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Patients, doctors differ on priorities before, after colorectal surgery
The factors and outcomes that physicians prioritize before and after colorectal surgery do not match up with those deemed important by patients, according to research published in Diseases of the Colon & Rectum.
Sean M. Wrenn, MD, resident physician at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and the University of Vermont Medical Center, and colleagues believe their findings highlight the need for more thorough discussions between doctors and their patients.
“Surgical outcomes need to be assessed and at least partially aligned with patient priorities for their own care,” Wrenn said in a video abstract. “This is one of the central tenets of patient-centered care.”
Wrenn and colleagues developed a 32-item, novel questionnaire to determine the most important goals and desires of patients undergoing colorectal surgical resection. They mailed the survey to patients who underwent a colon or rectal resection at their medical center between 2009 and 2015. A total of 167 patients returned the survey, and 92.2% reported they were satisfied with their recovery.
The survey asked patients to rank 14 factors related to their surgical care on a scale of “most important” to “not important.”
The factors most frequently cited as “most important” were: being cured of colorectal cancer (n = 127, 76%); not having a permanent stoma (n = 130; 78%); and avoiding complications (n = 123, 74%).
Wrenn and colleagues found that utilization of laparoscopy — generally considered one of the more important priorities by physicians — was among the factors cited least frequently as “most important” by patients (n = 21, 14%), along with length of stay in the hospital (n = 21, 13%) and incision appearance (n = 4, 2%).
The researchers wrote that their findings could help doctors better understand their patients and better serve their needs.
“The findings can be highly instructive to surgeons and other clinicians to help empathize with patients undergoing colon and rectal surgery, and to help guide resources to improved perioperative and postoperative care,” they wrote. – by Alex Young
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.