Factors Influencing Patient Work to Recover After Spine Surgery: A Patient-centered Systems Approach

A global aging population seeking resolution of pain and functional decline from degenerative spine conditions is leading to an increasing number of spine surgeries. The recovery process is complex with many cognitive and physical actions performed by the patient, which can be conceptualized as patient work. Shaped by the dynamic patient work system (PWS), patient work is the time and effort patients complete at home and across health settings to meet their health goals. Our aim was to define factors in the PWS that influence the patient work of older adults' recovery during the hospital and posthospitalization phases as well as by discharge location after spine surgery.METHODS: Secondary data analysis (28 interviews) using deductive and inductive qualitative content analysis methods was used to describe PWS influencing factors. The Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety 2.0 human factors framework (person, organization, task, tools and technology, and internal and external environments) guided independent (3 members) coding, codebook evolution, and team deductive analysis. Care phase and discharge location were further analyzed using team inductive analysis.RESULTS: In nearly all components, factor differences were present between discharge to home or skilled nursing facility or inpatient rehabilitation. These differences included pain severity, mobility, unexpected experiences, education not meeting their needs, the level of problem-solving required, and types of benchmarks to their goal of recovery.CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show that regardless of discharge disposition, older adults experience uncertainty and different needs during recovery that often generate invisible work in navigating the recovery process. Participants describe significant work to clarify any uncertainty and meet their recovery needs. Nursing has a pivotal role to further investigate strategies to help patients achieve their recovery goals.