Abstract
Objectives: To evaluate the influence of the patient-physician interaction and the instrumental awareness of the assessment of patients' answers to a carpal tunnel syndrome-specific questionnaire. Methods: We performed a prospective study of the results of a self-administered questionnaire for carpal tunnel syndrome before and after electrodiagnosis. Thirty-two consecutive patients were referred to our neurophysiological laboratory for suspected carpal tunnel syndrome. A patient-oriented evaluation using the Italian version of the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ), a widely used disease-specific questionnaire, was carried out before the clinical interaction was performed. The assessment was performed by means of a neurophysiological classification. After the communication of the result, the BCTQ was again administered. Results: The comparison of the BCTQ results, obtained PRE and POST clinical interaction, showed a significant reduction in the reported symptoms and hand function impairment not related to the neurophysiological results. Conclusions: The findings of the patient-oriented evaluation are significantly influenced by the communication of the assessment results. In prospective studies, the baseline assessment by means of a patient-oriented evaluation should consistently be performed in all patients at the same stage of the clinical process.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 522-524 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Neurological Research |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jul 2005 |
Keywords
- Administration methodology
- Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire
- Outcome research
- Patient-oriented
- Physician-patient interaction
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Neurology
- Neuroscience(all)