Elective neurosurgical office consultations: how well are patients informed?

A prospective study was performed on elective neurosurgical office referrals to one neurosurgeon at the Toronto Hospital from September 1988 to May 1996. Patient level of information was tested using the chisquare test on the study population of 2,017 patients grouped according to the type of referring doctor and regional category of diagnosis. There was a statistically significant difference in the degree of knowledge of referred patients according to the type of referring doctor (p < 0.008). In addition there was statistical significance found in the difference in degree of knowledge among patients referred with the various regional categories of disease (p < 0.008). Patients referred by family physicians are not as informed as to the nature of their neurosurgical referral as those referred by neurologists and other specialists. Furthermore, patients with an intracranial diagnosis had a greater level of knowledge about their referral than those patients referred for spinal, peripheral nerve or other diagnoses.