The Patient's Perioperative Perspective during Treatment for Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Abstract

Objectives: (1) Describe each patient’s preoperative and postoperative experience in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). (2) Understand how the patients’ perceptions may influence their postoperative outcome and satisfaction. Methods: To analyze the differences between quantitative and qualitative postoperative results, we developed a modified phenomenological qualitative study of OSA patients who failed continuous positive airway pressure use and underwent surgery. From May to August 2012, patients were interviewed using a semi-structured approach until thematic saturation was reached (n = 17). Of these interviews, 13 were held in-person while 4 were performed by phone. Through Moustakas’ analysis, the transcribed interviews were broken down into codes. These were grouped into overarching themes. Upfront debriefing, investigator triangulation, epoche, reciprocal coding, member checks, and thick, rich description ensured data trustworthiness. Additionally, the patient’s preoperative sleep studies and postoperative sleep studies were analyzed and compared to the subjective results. Results: The study identified 5 themes relating to patients and their OSA surgery: (1) Importance of OSA on personal and professional life; (2) Motivating factors for choosing surgery; (3) Patient knowledge; (4) Postoperative challenges; (5) Impact of OSA surgery. Conclusions: Patients’ experiences going into the surgery can largely influence their perceived outcome and satisfaction. These experiences are individual and subjective, and the postoperative sleep studies do not capture the whole outcome of the patients’ response to surgery. This suggests when patient reported outcomes are combined with postoperative sleep studies, otolaryngologists can gain a much better perspective about their patients.