Video: Communication is Key to Ease Worry about Orthopaed...( Study finds that older patients...),Health

Study finds that older patients' concerns often go unspoken and

unaddressed.

ROSEMONT, Ill., Aug. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- When discussing surgery with their orthopaedic surgeons, older patients frequently do not raise all of their concerns about proposed procedures. A study published in the July 2008 issue of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery found that patients age 60 or older have many concerns and questions that they do not mention to their orthopaedic surgeons, which, in turn can become a barrier to obtaining optimal care.

To view the Multimedia News Release, go to: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/aaos/33875/

Using audiotapes of visits between patients and their orthopaedic surgeons, as well as post-visit telephone interviews, researchers found:

-- Patients raised only 53% of their concerns about surgery during office

visits.

-- Patients rarely raised concerns about their ability to meet the demands

of surgery or about the orthopaedic surgeon's communication and

surgical experience.

-- Patients did receive answers about the timing of surgery and about the

care facility where the procedure would be performed.

"Unexpressed concerns can keep patients from accepting recommended surgeries that may be very beneficial for them," says Pamela L. Hudak, B.Sc.P.T., Ph.D., primary author of the study and a research scientist at The Keenan Research Centre in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. "If patients don't bring up concerns with their orthopaedic surgeon, then the opportunity to help is missed. For example, if a patient's unexpressed concern is based on incorrect information, a surgeon will be hard pressed to help."

"Our study, also found that many patients do not mention worries about their capacity to meet the demands o
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