Alvin Atlas
University of South Australia, Australia
Title: Sources of information used by patients prior to orthopedic elective surgery: A scoping review
Biography
Biography: Alvin Atlas
Abstract
Aim: Patients require skills and supports to make considered decisions about their health care choices, risks and benefits and possible outcomes. The aim of this scoping review is to describe the range and nature of available research regarding sources of information that patients’ access to inform their decisions about elective surgery. Methodology: The search and reporting were conducted using the adapted framework by Arksey and O’Malley. Six scientific literature databases were searched: Medline, PubMed, CINAHL, Academic Search Premier, EMBASE and SCOPUS; focusing solely on elective surgery information sources oriented to patients. Web searches for grey literature were also conducted in Google, South Australia Department of Health, Commonwealth Department of Health and My Aged Care. Included literature was described by National Health and Medical Research Council hierarchy of evidence and data was extracted on country and year of publication, type of literature, who provided it and any information on end-users. Result: A pool of 1010 articles was reduced to 13 after screening for duplicates and non-relevant studies. Information sources were categorized by type and how information was presented. Face-to-face exchanges were the most likely source of information prior to elective surgery (46% studies), followed by e-learning (23%), printed information (23%) and multimedia (8%). The face-to-face category included information provided by physician/general practitioners/specialists and family and friends. Printed information included brochures and pamphlets, e-learning consisted of internet sites or videos and the use of multimedia included different mixed media format. Conclusion: The information patients used to inform their decision to undergo orthopedic elective surgery is highly variable. Face to face interaction with the medical personnel as the most common source of health information raises some possible issues on information that could be biased and dependent on what healthcare providers choose to share.