Provision of a surgeon's performance data for people considering elective surgery

Abstract

Background: A consumer model of health supports that elective surgery patients should be informed about the past operative performance of their surgeon before making two important decisions: 1) to consent to the proposed surgery, and 2) to have a particular doctor perform the surgery. This information arguably helps empower patients to participate in their care. While surgeons' performance data are available in some settings there continues to be controversy over the provision of such data to patients, and the question of whether consumers should, or want to, be provided with this information.

Objectives: To assess the effects of providing a surgeon's performance data to people considering elective surgery.

Search strategy: We searched the following databases: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, The Cochrane Library, 20 Oct 2009); MEDLINE (Ovid) (28 Sep 2009); EMBASE (Ovid) (28 Sep 2009); PsycINFO (Ovid) (28 Sep 2009); CINAHL (Ebsco) (20 Oct 2009), Current Contents (Ovid) (23 Nov 2009), and Proquest Dissertations and Theses (20 October 2009). We searched all databases from their start dates.

Selection criteria: Randomised and cluster randomised controlled trials (RCTs), quasi-RCTs and controlled before and after studies, in which an individual surgeon's performance data were provided to patients considering elective surgery.

Data collection and analysis: Two review authors independently assessed the titles and abstracts of retrieved citations. No studies were identified for inclusion. Consequently, no data collection or analysis was conducted.

Main results: We found no studies that met the inclusion criteria, therefore there are no results to report on the effect of the provision of a surgeon's performance data for people considering elective surgery.

Authors' conclusions: We found no studies reporting the impact of the provision of a surgeon's performance data for people considering elective surgery. This is an important finding in itself. While the public reporting of a surgeon's performance is not a new concept, the efficacy of this data for individual patients has not been empirically tested. We recommend that a review of qualitative studies or new primary qualitative research be conducted to determine what interventions are currently in use and explore the attitudes of consumers and professionals towards such interventions.