Do Patients Want to Be Involved in Their Carpal Tunnel Surgery Decisions? A Multicenter Study

Area of Science:

• Orthopedics
• Patient-centered care
• Surgical decision-making

Background:

• Carpal tunnel syndrome management involves multiple critical decisions.
• Patient preferences for shared decision-making across care phases are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate patient preferences for involvement in decision-making during carpal tunnel syndrome management.
• To explore variations in desired participation across preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative phases.

Main Methods:

• Prospective, multicenter study involving 71 patients undergoing carpal tunnel surgery.
• Utilized a 27-item questionnaire with the Control Preferences Scale to assess decision-making preferences.
• Data collected on preferred involvement levels for preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative decisions.

Main Results:

• Patients generally preferred semipassive decision-making roles across all care phases (median score, 3).
• Equally collaborative decisions were preferred for preoperative choices (median score, 2).
• Semipassive roles were preferred for intraoperative and postoperative decisions (median score, 3).

Conclusions:

• Carpal tunnel syndrome patients exhibit varying preferences for shared decision-making.
• A semipassive role is preferred for intraoperative and postoperative decision-making in carpal tunnel syndrome care.