Abstract
Complex articular cartilage loss in the knee is being diagnosed more frequently and
earlier in life, and patients are faced with major decisions regarding invasive surgical
interventions at increasingly younger ages. There is a critical unmet need to provide
patient-centered comparative effectiveness research for the hundreds of thousands
of patients faced with these treatment decisions each year. Toward filling the need,
we developed the Patient AdvisoR Team iN Orthopaedic ReSearch (PARTNORS) program.
We recruited a diverse group of patients and caregivers with lived experiences in
dealing with complex knee problems to define patient-centered research priorities
for comparative biological and artificial knee surgery research for middle-aged adults.
Adapting the Stakeholder Engagement in Question Development and Prioritization Method,
PARTNORS defined a 20-question list of patient-centered research questions of factors
influencing a patients' choice between biological and artificial knee surgeries. The
highest prioritized research question related to functional level postsurgery as it
relates to daily activities and recreational activities. The second highest prioritized
research questions related to insurance coverage and financial costs. Other prioritized
research areas included caregiving needs, implant longevity, recovery and rehabilitation
time, patient satisfaction and success rates, individual characteristics, and risks.
By engaging a group of patients and caregivers and including them as members of a
multidisciplinary research team, comparative effectiveness research that includes
patient-centered factors that go beyond typical clinical success indicators for knee
surgery can be designed to allow physicians and patients to work together toward evidence-based
shared decisions. This shared decision-making process helps to align patients' and
health care team's goals and expectations to improve outcomes.
Keywords patient engagement in research - SEED method - patient-centered research - artificial
or biological knee surgeries
