Patient-Surgeon Communication in Thoracic Surgery: Insights from a European Multi-Country Survey on the Perioperative Experience

Objectives: Many advancements have occurred in surgery from the technical side with increasingly sophisticated minimally invasive surgical options to the patient care side with the advent of ERAS and patient-related outcomes research. Patient-related outcomes research has allowed providers to focus on what is most important to a patient when it comes to quality of life, however, an ill-defined disconnect persists between the desires of patients and the perspectives of surgeons on what the patient values the most. Methods: A rigorously designed multi-country European survey of 9 carefully curated questions meant to mimic the perioperative journey for both the patient and surgeon distributed through an online link or paper version who recently underwent thoracic surgery and to surgeons involved with thoracic surgical care to explore the possible disconnect of perceptions of care throughout the perioperative journey. Results: A total of 444 participants (230 patients and 214 surgeons) from different parts of Europe responded to the survey. Noted discrepancies were found throughout the preoperative, intraoperative and post-operative phases when it came to perception of information given and understood, what was communicated, and how care was implemented. Conclusions: This study identifies critical gaps in the communication and perception of surgical care between patients and surgeons, emphasizing the need for the implementation of shared decision-making, and increasing awareness of enhanced holistic support throughout the perioperative journey.