EVALUATION OF PATIENTS’ SATISFACTION WITH POSTOPERATIVE OUTCOMES FOLLOWING LUMBER DISC HERNIATION SURGERY

Shaker Hassan Salem Alshehri*

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Although it is a subjective judgment, patients’ satisfaction becomes one of the main parameters used to assess the outcomes of disc herniation surgery. This study aimed to investigate the level and the determinants of patients’ satisfaction with the short-term outcomes following lumber disc herniation surgery. Methods: This is one arm clinical trial design recruited 68 patients with grade one disc herniation on L4-L5 level in King Faisal Specialist Hospital. The patients’ satisfaction was assessed three months after surgery using a specifically designed questionnaire consists of two main sections. Section A contains questions investigated data about background variables include age, gender, duration of pain, and preoperative functional status. Section B contains questions about the patients’ satisfaction with the surgery outcomes. The responses for the first five statements were collected in 5-grade scale included strongly dissatisfied, dissatisfied, I do not know, satisfied, and strongly satisfied. The last question was assessed by dichotomous response (Yes/No). Results: This study found, approximately, 57% of the patients were females and about 62% were above 50 years old. The majority of patients reported satisfaction in regards to all post-operative clinical outcomes, and 54.4% of them were generally satisfied with the surgery outcomes. The patients were most satisfied about return to work while they were least satisfied about their ability to exercise after the surgery. Conclusion: We concluded that the majority of patients reported satisfaction in regards to all post-operative clinical outcomes. Age, duration of pain and preoperative functional status were significant predictors for the general patients’ satisfaction.

Keywords: Satisfaction, Surgery, Spine, Disc, Herniation, Outcomes.