TITLE:
The Effects of Pre-Surgical Education on Patient Expectations in Total Knee Arthroplasties
AUTHORS:
Steven Furney, Natasha Montez
KEYWORDS:
Osteoarthritis, Total-Knee Arthroplasty, Pre-Surgical Education, Patient Expectations
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Preventive Medicine,
Vol.5 No.12,
December
4,
2015
ABSTRACT: As patients prepare for total-knee arthroplasty surgery, they have many expectations related to
their long-term recovery and function. This research examined whether the use of a pre-surgical
patient education class with an additional long-term expectation module addressing recovery
during the first 12 months after surgery was more effective in modifying participant’s pre-surgical
expectations than participants receiving the standard pre-surgical education class alone. Prior to
the class each participant completed one disease-specific instrument, a general-health survey, and
a total-knee replacement expectation survey. After the class, each participant once again completed
the total-knee replacement survey. Included in the study were 42 participants who were enrolled
in a pre-surgical education course that was randomized. The participants in the control group received
the standard pre-surgical education addressing pre-surgical topics. The participants in the
intervention group received the standard pre-surgical education plus an additional module that
specifically addressed long-term recovery and function up to 12 months post surgery. The primary
outcome of the data revealed that participants’ who received the standard pre-surgical education
with the additional module and who had an educational level higher than highschool, had expectations
that were able to be modified to coincide with the surgeons’ expectations.