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.

Routine Health Outcome Measurement: Development, Design, and Implementation of the Hand and Wrist Cohort.

Routine measurement of outcome of clinical care is increasingly considered important, but implementation in practice is challenging. This article describes (1) how the authors created and implemented a routine outcome measurement cohort of patients with hand and wrist conditions and (2) how these data are used to improve the quality of care and facilitate scientific research. Starting in 2011, routine outcome measurement was implemented at all practice sites (currently 22) of a specialized treatment center for hand and wrist conditions across The Netherlands.

Content validity and responsiveness of the Patient-Specific Functional Scale in patients with Dupuytren's disease.

Introduction: Patient-reported outcome measures have become the standard tool for reflecting the patient's perspective on their treatment outcome for a wide variety of hand conditions. The Patient-Specific Functional Scale (PSFS), is an individualized questionnaire that enables patients to specify those activities with which they have difficulty in daily life.

Purpose Of The Study: This study aims to determine the content validity and responsiveness of the PSFS compared with the Michigan Hand Questionnaire (MHQ) in patients with Dupuytren's disease.

Three distinct recovery patterns following primary total knee arthroplasty: dutch arthroplasty register study of 809 patients.

Purpose: Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is usually effective, although not all patients have satisfactory outcomes. This assumes distinct recovery patterns might exist. Little attention has been paid to determine which patients have worse outcomes.

Illness Perceptions of Patients With First Carpometacarpal Osteoarthritis, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Dupuytren Contracture, or Trigger Finger.

Purpose: Previous studies indicate that patients with a more negative perception of their illness tend to respond less favorably to treatment, but little is known about whether illness perceptions differ based on the type of hand or wrist conditions. Therefore, we compared illness perceptions between patients scheduled to undergo surgery for 4 illnesses in hand surgery: carpometacarpal osteoarthritis (CMC OA), Dupuytren disease, carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), and trigger finger syndrome (TFS). We hypothesized there would be differences in illness perception between these patient groups.

Which Psychological Variables Are Associated With Pain and Function Before Surgery for de Quervain's Tenosynovitis? A Cross-sectional Study.

Background: Depression, anxiety, and pain catastrophizing have been associated with worse pain and function in studies of patients with de Quervain's tenosynovitis. Illness perceptions are the patient's thoughts and feelings about their illness. More negative perceptions of the illness such as the illness having a long duration or serious consequences are associated with worse physical function in patients with hand osteoarthritis.

Patients With Thumb-base Osteoarthritis Scheduled for Surgery Have More Symptoms, Worse Psychological Profile, and Higher Expectations Than Nonsurgical Counterparts: A Large Cohort Analysis.

Background: Psychological characteristics, such as depression, anxiety or negative illness perception are highly prevalent in patients with several types of OA. It is unclear whether there are differences in the clinical and psychological characteristics of patients with thumb carpometacarpal (CMC-1) osteoarthritis (OA) scheduled for nonsurgical treatment and those with surgical treatment.

Questions/purposes: (1) What are the differences in baseline sociodemographic characteristics and clinical characteristics (including pain, hand function, and health-related quality of life) between patients with thumb CMC-1 OA scheduled for surgery and those treated nonoperatively? (2) What are the differences in psychological characteristics between patients scheduled for surgery and those treated nonsurgically, for treatment credibility, expectations, illness perception, pain catastrophizing, and anxiety and depression? (3) What is the relative contribution of baseline sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological characteristics to the probability of being scheduled for surgery?

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using observational data.

Psychological factors are more strongly associated with pain than radiographic severity in non-invasively treated first carpometacarpal osteoarthritis.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent psychological factors are related to pain levels prior to non-invasive treatment in patients with osteoarthritis of the first carpometacarpal joint.

Methods: We included patients ( = 255) at the start of non-invasive treatment for osteoarthritis of the first carpometacarpal joint who completed the Michigan Hand Outcome Questionnaire. Psychological distress, pain catastrophizing behavior and illness perception was measured.

Influence of illness perceptions, psychological distress and pain catastrophizing on self-reported symptom severity and functional status in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.

Objective: To examine the influence of illness perceptions, pain catastrophizing and psychological distress on self-reported symptom severity and functional status in patients diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).

Methods: A total of 674 patients with CTS scheduled for surgery at an outpatient treatment center for hand and wrist conditions (September 2017 to August 2018) completed online questionnaires regarding demographic and psychosocial characteristics and self-reported CTS severity. Self-reported severity of CTS was measured with the functional status scale and the symptom severity scale of the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire.

Item Reduction of the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire Using Decision Tree Modeling.

Objective: To produce an electronic decision tree version of the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (DT-BCTQ) using the chi-squared automatic interaction detection (CHAID) algorithm to reduce questionnaire length of the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ) while minimizing the loss of measurement properties.

Design: Criterion standard study. All BCTQs completed between January 2012 and September 2016 by patients who were treated for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) were randomly divided into a development and a validation dataset at a 3-to-1 ratio.

Positive experience with treatment is associated with better surgical outcome in trapeziometacarpal osteoarthritis.

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between patients' experiences with trapeziometacarpal arthroplasty and treatment outcomes in terms of patient-reported outcome measures, grip and pinch strength. We included 233 patients who received a Weilby procedure for trapeziometacarpal osteoarthritis. Before surgery and 12 months after surgery, patients completed the Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire, and their pinch and grip strengths were measured.

Better Patient-Reported Experiences with Health Care Are Associated with Improved Clinical Outcome after Carpal Tunnel Release Surgery.

Background: In hand surgery, and specifically carpal tunnel syndrome, it is currently unknown whether experiences with health care influence surgical outcome. To investigate whether there is an association between patient-reported experience measures and symptom relief, data were gathered using a cohort of patients undergoing surgical treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome.

Methods: Patient-reported experience measures and patient-reported outcome measures were registered in a national database of 16 hand surgery practices.

Item reduction of the patient-rated wrist evaluation using decision tree modelling.

The aim of this study is to assess the viability of a decision tree version of an often used questionnaire to measure wrist pain and disability, the Patient Rated Wrist Evaluation.: Patient Rated Wrist Evaluation scores were collected from a cohort of 10394 patients who are part of a routine outcome measurement system. A decision tree version of the Patient Rated Wrist Evaluation (PRWE) was created.

Response to Conservative Treatment for Thumb Carpometacarpal Osteoarthritis Is Associated With Conversion to Surgery: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: The current guidelines for treatment of carpometacarpal osteoarthritis recommend starting with conservative treatment before a surgical procedure is considered.

Objective: The objective was to investigate how response to conservative treatment, in terms of pain and hand function, influences the hazard that patients convert to surgical treatment.

Design: This was a multicenter, prospective cohort study.

Early recovery trajectories after fast-track primary total hip arthroplasty: the role of patient characteristics.

Background and purpose - Little is known about heterogeneity in early recovery after primary total hip arthroplasty (THA). Therefore, we characterized subgroups of patients according to their hip function trajectory during the first 6 weeks after THA in a fast-track setting. Patients and methods - 94 patients (median age 65 years [41-82], 56 women) from a single hospital participated in a diary study.

Better patients' treatment experiences are associated with better postoperative results in Dupuytren's disease.

Unlabelled: This prospective study investigates the extent to which a better experience with healthcare delivery is associated with better postoperative treatment outcomes after surgery for Dupuytren's contracture. Patients undergoing limited fasciectomy or percutaneous needle fasciotomy for Dupuytren's contractures completed the Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire before and 3 months after surgery, together with a patient reported experience measure, while hand therapists assessed the straightness of the finger with a goniometer. Regression analyses were used to examine associations.

Hand Surgeons Performing More Open Carpal Tunnel Releases Do Not Show Better Patient Outcomes.

Background: Although previous studies have shown that more experienced surgeons have better patient outcomes following a variety of procedures, in hand surgery and carpal tunnel release in particular, this relation remains unproven. The authors assessed whether there is an association between surgeon volume and patient outcomes following open carpal tunnel release.

Methods: Patients who underwent carpal tunnel release between 2011 and 2015 at outpatient hand surgery clinics in The Netherlands were included.

Bad news: The influence of news coverage and Google searches on Gardasil adverse event reporting.

Background: Human papilloma virus vaccines are a safe and effective tool for reducing HPV infections that can cause cervical cancer. However, uptake of these vaccines has been suboptimal, with many people holding negative beliefs and misconceptions. Such beliefs have been linked with the experience of unpleasant side effects following medical treatment, and media coverage may heighten such concerns.

"These Power Lines Make Me Ill": A Typology of Residents' Health Responses to a New High-Voltage Power Line.

Little attention has been devoted to the potential diversity in residents' health responses when exposed to an uncertain environmental health risk. The present study explores whether subgroups of residents respond differently to a new high-voltage power line (HVPL) being put into operation. We used a quasi-experimental prospective field study design with two pretests during the construction of a new HVPL, and two posttests after it was put into operation.

Treatment recommendations by clinicians in stage I non-small cell lung cancer: A study of factors that influence the likelihood of accounting for the patient's preference.

Objectives: Surgery and stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) are both curative treatment options for patients with stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Shared decision making (SDM) has been advocated in this patient group. This study explored clinician decision making in relation to the stated treatment preferences of patients.

Nocebo responses to high-voltage power lines: Evidence from a prospective field study.

Background: Experimental studies suggest that nocebo responses might occur after exposure to equipment emitting electromagnetic fields such as high voltage power lines (HVPLs) or mobile phone base stations.

Objectives: The present study investigates to what extent health responses to a new HVPL can be explained by beliefs of residents regarding the health effects of HVPLs.

Methods: We used a quasi-experimental prospective field study design with two pretests during the construction of a new HVPL, and two posttests after it has been put into operation.