New vs old: descriptors can affect patients' surgical preferences

Area of Science:

• Urology
• Surgical Innovation
• Patient Decision-Making

Background:

• Patient choice in surgical procedures is influenced by various factors.
• Understanding patient perception of surgical innovation is crucial for effective counseling.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if labeling a surgical procedure as 'newer' increases patient preference over one labeled 'older'.
• To assess the impact of temporal descriptors on patient selection of treatments for stress incontinence.

Main Methods:

• Women with stress incontinence were presented with descriptions of two surgical procedures (fascia sling and mesh sling).
• The procedures were randomly assigned labels of 'newer' or 'older' for different participant groups.
• Participants indicated their preferred procedure and general views on newer vs. older surgical techniques.

Main Results:

• A significant majority of patients (68%) chose the procedure labeled as 'newer'.
• The fascia sling was preferred overall (74%), with a particularly strong preference (92%) when presented as the 'newer' option.
• Most patients (79%) believed newer procedures are generally superior.

Conclusions:

• The designation of a surgical procedure as 'newer' or 'older' significantly impacts patient preference.
• Physicians should be aware that temporal labels may overshadow other important counseling information.
• Effective patient counseling requires careful consideration of how procedural information is presented.