Preoperative Expectations for Elective vs Nonelective Foot and Ankle Patients

Area of Science:

• Orthopaedic Surgery
• Patient Expectations
• Surgical Outcomes

Background:

• Patient and surgeon expectations for orthopaedic surgery frequently diverge.
• Understanding these expectations is crucial for patient satisfaction.
• Previous research focused on elective procedures, excluding traumatic injuries.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare preoperative expectations between patients undergoing elective versus nonelective foot and ankle surgery.
• To identify factors influencing patient-surgeon expectation discrepancies.

Main Methods:

• Prospective study of 69 adult foot and ankle patients (October 2023-March 2024).
• Independent completion of a validated Foot and Ankle Surgery Expectations Survey by patients and surgeons.
• Calculation of Number of Expected Areas of Improvement (NEAI) and Aggregate Score (AS).

Main Results:

• No significant difference in patient expectations (NEAI or AS) between elective and nonelective groups (P=.988, P=.462).
• Surgeon expectations were significantly lower than patient expectations in both groups (P<.001).
• Increased patient body mass index predicted greater patient-surgeon discrepancy (P=.005).

Conclusions:

• Confirms surgeons generally have lower preoperative expectations than patients for foot and ankle surgery.
• Exploratory findings suggest no difference in expectations between elective and nonelective foot and ankle surgeries.
• Patient-surgeon expectation gaps may be influenced by factors like BMI.