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Research Article | DOI: https://doi.org/10.31579/2690-4861/172
1 Department of General Surgery, Altınbas University School of Medicine Bahcelievler Medical Park Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey. ORCID: 0000-0001-5344-8894.
2 Department of Radiology, Prof Dr. Cemil Tascıoglu City Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey. ORCID: 0000-0001-8036-547X.
*Corresponding Author: Berrin Erok, Department of Radiology, Prof Dr Cemil Tascıoglu City Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey. ORCID: 0000-0001-8036-547X.
Citation: H Akyol, B Erok. (2021). Factors Affecting the Selection of the Bariatric Surgeon-A Survey Study. International Journal of Clinical Case Reports and Reviews. 9(2); DOI:10.31579/2690-4861/172
Copyright: © 2021 Berrin Erok, This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Received: 23 August 2021 | Accepted: 29 October 2021 | Published: 01 December 2021
Keywords: bariatric surgery; sociodemographic; kruskal wallis; patient; bariatric surgeon
There are various factors considerd by the patients in the process of selecting the hospital and the surgeon like professional sertifications. The experience of the surgeon for all types of surggeries has a great influence on the patients' preference. In some surgical procedures patients prefer gender concordant surgeons like gynecological operations. These factors have been evaluated in many studies regarding different types of operations.
There are various factors considerd by the patients in the process of selecting the hospital and the surgeon like professional sertifications [1].The experience of the surgeon for all types of surggeries has a great influence on the patients' preference. In some surgical procedures patients prefer gender concordant surgeons like gynecological operations [2,3]. These factors have been evaluated in many studies regarding different types of operations. However, there is no such a research on the factors that the obesity patients consider when choosing their surgeon. Since the demand for bariatric surgery is increasing day by day, understanding the factors playing a role in the decision making process of these patients is important for both surgeons and hospitals. In this study we aimed to comprehensively determine the factors considered by the patients in selection fort he bariatric surgeon.
We developed a self-administered online questionnaire by using Google survey platform. An introduction part informing the participants about the study’s aim was added at the beginning of the survey. No financial rewards were given for completing the questionnaire. Ethical approval was obtained from our university’s Institutional Ethical Board. The survey was designed to question the sociodemographic characteristics of the patients (table 1), the frequency of using social networks to obtain information (table 2) and the factors contributing to the bariatric surgeon selection process by the patients including the bariatric surgeon related factors and the hospital related factors (table 3,4). In addition, statements to finf out the patients’ view on the contributing factors were included (table 5).
The questionnaire was sent to 134 patients who underwent bariatric surgery between 2016 and 2020. The fully filled questionnaires of 54 patients, of which 27 (50%) male and 27 (50%) female and aged between 18 and 57 were included in the study. The average age of the cases was 34.11±11.74. The number of being the doctor to whom the patient consulted their disease ranges between 1 and 9 with average of 2.04±1.74 and the median of 1. While 63% of the cases are under the age of 40, 37% of them are 40 years old and above. 16.7% were primary school graduates, 20.4% were middle school graduates, 37% were high school graduates and 25.9% were university graduates. 57.4% of the patients were working, while 27.8% were housewives and 14.8% are students. The income level was low in 9.3%, moderate in 87% and high in 3.7% (table 1). While 83.3% used social media, 16.7% did not use social media. Among the cases using social media, .3 was using web sites, .6 facebook, (.9’u instagram, 13.3 Twitter and Youtube’u to get information (table 2). The distribution of the other uses are as shown in the table 3,4,5.
When evaluating the findings obtained from the study IBM SPSS Statistics 22 (IBM SPSS, Turkey) program was used. The suitability of the study data to the normal distribution was evaluated by the Shapiro Wilks test. In addition to the descriptive statistical methods (mean, Standart deviation, frequency) in the comparison of the quantitative data Kruskal Wallis test was used in the comparison of parameteres that did not show normal distribution and Dunn’s test was used fort he determination of the the group that caused the difference. In the two group comparison of the parameters that did not show normal distribution Mann Whitney U test was used. Statistical significance was determined as p<0>
The values of giving importance to the doctor related advertisements, social media accounts presence of the doctor, to be recommended by the former patients of the doctor and a website presence of the doctor were found to be statistically significantly higher among patients under the age of 40 years than those aged 40 and over [(p: 0.002; p<0>
The values of giving importance to informative posts of the doctor on social media and the comments made by the doctor on the internet and social media were found to be statistically significantly higher in men than women [(p:0.035; p<0>
There was a statistically significant difference between job groups of the patients in terms of the level of givinig importance to having a website (p:0.017; p<0>0.05).
There was a statistically significant difference between educational status of the patients in terms of the level of givinig importance to that the doctor is a famous, well known individual (p:0.003; p<0>
There was a statistically significant difference between job groups of the patients in terms of the level of givinig importance to that the doctor is a famous, well known individual (p:0.048; p<0>0.05).
There was a statistically significant difference between educational status of the patients in terms of the level of givinig importance to that the hospital where the doctor works (p:0.036; p<0>
There was a statistically significant difference between job groups of the patients in terms of the level of givinig importance to hospital hygene (p:0.026; p<0>
There as a statistically significant difference between job groups of the patients in terms of the patients’ level of participation in the statement ‘I think it is important to get information about the treatment methods before meeting with the doctor’, (p:0.005; p<0>
Obesity is a leading public health problem in developed and also developing countries. Obesity which has a significant negative influence on life expectancy increases the risk of many conditions as an independent factor like cancer [4,5]. It is also an independent poosr prognostic factor rot the current pandemic, tfe Covid-19 infection [6]. Bariatric surgery is increasingly considered by the patients who had unsuccesful results after trying to lose weight with traditional methods [7]. They consider several factors in the process of preferring their surgeons to be operated. Today, the information and communication technology plays an important role in our preferences and decisions in many aspects of our lives. Social media, which atracts great attention especially by young population is one of the important way that people benefit from in many decision making processes, even when making their holiday choices since the emergence of social media in 2004. It is known that individuals under the age of 40 pays more attention to social media and communication technologies. In our study, it is seen that the social media and web site presence of the surgeon was the most significantly contributing surgeon related factor for the bariatric surgeon selection especially in patients under the age of 40 years. When considering the gender, it is seen that informative posts and comments by the doctor on social media is significantly important for males. When considering the job, the prsence of websites of the doctor is sifnificantly important for working patients and students when compared with housewifes.
Advertisements about the doctor and being recommended by the former patients of the doctor are the other important factor especially for the patients under the age of 40.
Amongst the hospital-related factors, hospital hygiene was found as the most significant hospital related factor in the bariatric surgeon selection and was significantly important for students and the working patients.
Our findings revealed that, obesity patients consider several factors in the process of preferring their surgeons to be operated, however our results particularly emphasize the importance of information technologies especially the effrct of social media in this decision making process. We believe that the results of our study is important in terms of showing the causal role that social media plays in obesity patients' consideration of bariatric surgery and selection of their surgeons.
Conflict of interest: none
Funding: none
Author contributions:
Concept: Hüseyin Akyol, Berrin Erok
Design: Hüseyin Akyol
Data: Berrin Erok, Hüseyin Akyol
Analysis: Berrin Erok, Hüseyin Akyol
Literature search: Berrin Erok, Hüseyin Akyol
Writting: Berrin Erok
Critical revision: Hüseyin Akyol, Berrin Erok
Acknowlegement: We thank to the participants for answering our online questionnaires.
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