FROM THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS
An in-depth qualitative survey of patients’ expectations and satisfaction regarding ventral hernia management showed that while most were satisfied with surgical outcomes, many were uninformed about postoperative adverse outcomes and many were dissatisfied with nonoperative management.
Zeinab M. Alawadi, MD, and a team of researchers at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center, Houston, initially interviewed 30 patients seeking care for ventral hernia at a safety-net hospital prior to their surgical consultation about factors guiding their decision-making framework. A second interview was conducted 6 months later, asking about their level of satisfaction with their care and outcomes. The study appeared online Oct. 11 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
The patients’ choice to seek care for their hernias was primarily because of pain, limitations in performing everyday activities, fear of complications such as cancer or intestinal strangulation, and social discomfort with unsightly abdominal bulges.
The initial interview revealed that most patients had limited knowledge about risks and potential adverse outcomes of surgery, but nearly three-quarters of them wanted to undergo surgery for their ventral hernias. Only 7 of the 30 patients were treated surgically and of those, 2 reported an unexpected level of postoperative pain and dissatisfaction with the surgery outcome. The remaining five patients who had surgery were extremely satisfied with their decision.
Most of those interviewed had nonoperative management of their hernias, due to factors such as obesity, diabetes, and smoking. These patients expressed dissatisfaction with the obstacles of meeting surgical criteria, in particular the difficulties of losing weight and coping with diabetes. “From patients’ perspectives, the additional challenges of managing their diabetes and difficulties with exercising due to painful hernias represent overwhelming barriers to treating their obesity. Patients’ accounts do not reflect a simple failure to adhere to medical recommendations but substantial obstacles to losing weight,” the researchers noted. But these patients also expressed willingness to try to meet surgical criteria and to take responsibility for recurrence prevention by self-management.
This study provides insight into patient perceptions and expectation of ventral hernia surgery. “Several findings in this study suggest a need for better education and counseling of patients regarding the natural history of hernias and the risks and benefits of different management strategies. Self-contradicting patient responses regarding knowledge of surgical risks and benefits may represent poor communication by the physicians or poor understanding by the patients. As a result, patients appeared to have unrealistic expectations of surgery. In addition, contrary to the literature, patients appeared to disregard the physicians’ risk assessment and persisted in their preferences for surgical management, even after counseling.”
This work was supported by the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences, which is funded by National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Award UL1 TR000371 and KL2 TR000370 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The authors had no disclosures.
Read the complete study at goo.gl/pq4fjz .
