Driving Factors of Recommending a Hand Surgery Clinic After Surgery.

Purpose: Since a patient's recommendation of a clinic to others is an important indicator of patient experience, more insight is needed into the underlying factors that motivate such recommendations. This retrospective cohort study assessed the relative contribution of the following: (1) patient-related characteristics, (2) treatment outcome, (3) satisfaction with treatment outcome, and (4) patients' experience with the process of care to patients' recommendation of a specific clinic after elective surgery.

Methods: Patients of specialized outpatient hand surgery clinics (N = 6,895) reported the likelihood of recommending the clinic to friends or family 3-5 months after surgery by filling in the Net Promoter Score.

Associations between positive treatment outcome expectations, illness understanding, and outcomes: a cohort study on non-operative treatment of first carpometacarpal osteoarthritis.

Purpose: More positive outcome expectations and illness perceptions are associated with better outcomes for patients with several osteoarthritic orthopedic conditions. However, it is unknown whether these factors also influence outcomes of non-operative treatment for first carpometacarpal osteoarthritis (CMC-1 OA). Therefore, we assess the role of pre-treatment outcome expectations and illness perceptions in reports of pain and hand function 3 months after non-operative treatment for CMC-1 OA.

Patients With Higher Treatment Outcome Expectations Are More Satisfied With the Results of Nonoperative Treatment for Thumb Base Osteoarthritis: A Cohort Study.

Objective: To investigate how satisfaction with treatment outcome is associated with patient mindset and Michigan Hand Outcome Questionnaire (MHQ) scores at baseline and 3 months in patients receiving nonoperative treatment for first carpometacarpal joint (CMC-1) osteoarthritis (OA).

Design: Cohort study SETTING: A total of 20 outpatient locations of a clinic for hand surgery and hand therapy in the Netherlands.

Participants: Patients (N=308) receiving nonoperative treatment for CMC-1 OA, including exercise therapy, an orthosis, or both, between September 2017 and February 2019.

Patient Mindset and the Success of Carpal Tunnel Release.

Background: Depression and pain catastrophizing are aspects of the patient's mindset that have been shown to be important in relation to the outcome of carpal tunnel release. However, other factors of the patient's mindset have been understudied, such as treatment expectations and illness perceptions. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of these mindset aspects on outcome of carpal tunnel release, in addition to psychological distress and pain catastrophizing.

Psychological Characteristics, Female Sex, and Opioid Use Predict Acute Postoperative Pain in Patients Surgically Treated for Thumb Base Osteoarthritis: A Cohort Study.

Background: It is unclear which factors predict acute postoperative pain in patients surgically treated for thumb base osteoarthritis. The authors investigated the influence of type of surgery, preoperative sociodemographics, preoperative patient-reported outcome measures, psychological characteristics, and postoperative opioid use on acute postoperative pain 24 hours postoperatively following surgery for thumb carpometacarpal osteoarthritis. In addition, preoperative and acute postoperative pain were compared.