Pooling and patient satisfaction in non-instrumented lumbar decompressive surgery

Area of Science:

• Neurosurgery
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Elective primary non-instrumented lumbar decompression is a common surgical procedure.
• Patient satisfaction and waiting times are key performance indicators in surgical care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of patient pooling on satisfaction and waiting times for elective lumbar decompression.
• To assess the effectiveness of a pooled patient system in a neurosurgical unit.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of Spine Tango and Theatre Databases (2012-2016).
• Analysis of patient satisfaction scores (3 and 12 months post-op).
• Evaluation of waiting times pre- and post-implementation of 18-week target and pooling systems.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in patient satisfaction between pooled and non-pooled groups (p > 0.05).
• Pooling did not alter average waiting times but significantly reduced waiting time variability.
• Both 18-week targets and pooling contributed to improved waiting times.

Conclusions:

• Patient pooling for elective lumbar decompression enhances waiting time efficiency, particularly reducing variability.
• The pooling system demonstrated no adverse effect on patient satisfaction.
• Recommends adopting similar pooling strategies to optimize resources and minimize wait time disparities.