Understanding the patient perspective after ventral hernia repair

Area of Science:

• Surgical outcomes research
• Patient-centered care

Background:

• Over 350,000 ventral hernia repairs occur annually in the U.S.
• Long-term quality of life post-hernia repair requires further investigation.
• Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are vital for understanding patient experience and improving treatments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore patient experiences following ventral hernia repair.
• To enhance an existing PRO tool for assessing patient outcomes.
• To improve the quality of care and long-term results for hernia repair patients.

Main Methods:

• Conducted two rounds of semi-structured interviews and focus groups.
• Enrolled 22 patients who underwent ventral hernia repair.
• Analyzed patient perspectives to inform PRO tool development.

Main Results:

• Identified ten major themes impacting patient quality of life.
• Hernia repair and recurrence led to chronic pain and affected daily/social activities.
• Lack of provider-patient communication and understanding necessitates better pre-operative information.

Conclusions:

• PRO assessments and physician-patient communication enhance pre-operative benefit-risk understanding.
• Improved communication can lead to better patient expectations regarding surgical recovery.
• Addressing patient perspectives is key to optimizing ventral hernia repair outcomes.