Less Pain, Better Outcome?

Researchers have found that one quick way to predict the outcome of spinal surgery is simply to determine how satisfied the patient is afterwards.  Not surprisingly, a patient’s satisfaction tends to be based on how much improvement he or she saw.  Level of pain also plays a role. Interestingly, those patients on Medicaid or without any insurance tended to be less satisfied with the their surgeries.  In an era when doctors and health insurers are trying to quantify the effectiveness of various medical procedures, it looks like one very old measure still works: ask the patient how he or she feels. No need for any algorithm or statisticians here. Maybe this is too simple and obvious to work. 

Reduced Pain, Disability Predict Patient Satisfaction.