Prospective assessment of patients’ knowledge and informational needs and of surgeon-to-patient information transfer before and after knee or hip arthroplasty

• Published in: Orthopaedics & traumatology, surgery & research surgery & research, 2017-12, Vol.103 (8), p.1161-1167
• Main Authors: Billon, L., Décaudin, B., Pasquier, G., Lons, A., Deken-Delannoy, V., Germe, A.-F., Odou, P., Migaud, H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Arthroplasty; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip - adverse effects; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip - rehabilitation; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee - adverse effects; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee - rehabilitation; Communication; Educational Status; Female; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Humans; Information Seeking Behavior; Life Sciences; Male; Middle Aged; Needs Assessment; Patient Education as Topic; Patient information; Patient knowledge; Physician-Patient Relations; Prospective Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 1877-0568; 1877-0568
• DOI: 10.1016/j.otsr.2017.08.012

Patients are playing an increasingly large role in their own management and must therefore receive clear, complete, and comprehensible information. In the field of hip and knee arthroplasty, little is known about the level of patient knowledge and effectiveness of surgeon-to-patient information transfer. We therefore designed a prospective observational study with the objective of assessing four factors: patient knowledge during management, quality of information transfer, informational needs, and factors associated with the level of knowledge. The level of patient knowledge changes during the management process. A prospective single-centre study was conducted between January 2014 and March 2015 during the outpatient visits and inpatient stays of 63 patients who underwent arthroplasty of the hip (n=36) or knee (n=27). A single observer attended all patient visits and recorded the information provided by the surgeon. Each patient completed a self-questionnaire after the outpatient visit (T1), at admission (T2), and at discharge after surgery (T3). Semi-quantitative scores were used to assess knowledge and informational needs. The effectiveness of information transfer was evaluated by comparing the information provided by the surgeon to the replies made by the patients. The mean overall knowledge score (on a 0–42 scale) increased from 17.22±6.33 at T1 to 19.44±6.89 at T3 (P=0.0028). In contrast, knowledge about complications was better at T1 than at T3 (2.67±1.98 vs. 2.19±1.91; P