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Patients' Worries before Total Joint Replacement

Patients in England have some rare challenges. Waiting for a new hip or knee joint replacement can take 12 to 18 months. That's a lot of time to spend thinking about the operation. What the doctor told the patient may be forgotten or distorted during the long wait.

But many worries never come to pass. The authors of this study think counseling before the operation may be a good idea. Not everyone needs the same advice. In their study, they found that different patients have different concerns.

For example, patients who had a total joint before were more concerned about the nursing care and hospital food. They were less worried about the outcome. Women were more likely to worry about joint stiffness, joint dislocation, using stairs, and falling. Younger patients listed their primary concerns as no change in pain, whether the joint would wear out, and if one leg would end up being longer than the other. The biggest worry for everyone was cancellation of the operation. Other areas of general concern included the risk of dying, infection, sleeping while in the hospital, going back to work, and driving.

With this information, doctors and staff at hospitals or clinics can give patients the right kind of comfort before a joint replacement operation. The kind of health care given in England may create different concerns than patients have in other countries with different healthcare systems.

References: M. Moran, MRCS, et al. Evaluation of Patient Concerns before Total Knee and Hip Arthroplasty. In The Journal of Arthroplasty. June 2003. Vol. 18. No. 4. Pp. 442-445.

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