Title : Factors Influencing Patients’ Decisions to Undergo Recommended Spinal Surgery
Abstract:
Spinal surgery is the final option recommended to individuals with spinal conditions when conservative treatment has failed in treating patients’ symptoms. The purpose of this study is to examine the factors contributing to patients’ readiness to undergo recommended spinal surgery. In this prospective study, we examined 21 patients agreeing to undergo recommended spinal fusion between August 2021 and January 2022 with a virtual questionnaire. The mean age was 61.2 years. The majority of patients were male (13 patients, 61.9%), white (19 patients, 90.5%), and privately insured (11 patients, 52.4%). Patients reported that the most important factor contributing to their interest in surgery was the severity of symptoms (14 patients, 66.7%), confidence in the neurosurgeon (4 patients, 19%), and evaluation of potential adverse outcomes (3 patients, 14.3%). Their ideal outcome in consulting with a neurosurgeon for their symptoms was surgery (16 patients, 76.2%), exercise for pain relief (2 patients, 9.5%), and being told their problem is not a neurosurgical condition (3 patients, 14.3%). There are a multitude of factors that influence patients’ choice to undergo spinal surgery. These findings suggest that even though not all patients felt that surgery was their ideal outcome, all of them underwent surgery. Additional evaluations are needed to explore patients’ trust in neurosurgeons’ recommendations.
