Abstract
Objective
To qualitatively assess surgeons decision making for lip surgery in patients with cleft lip/palate (CL/P).
Design
Prospective, non-randomized, clinical trial.
Setting
Clinical data institutional laboratory setting.
Patients, Participants
The study included both patient and surgeon participants recruited from four craniofacial centers. The patient participants were babies with a CL/P requiring primary lip repair surgery (n=16) and adolescents with repaired CL/P who may require secondary lip revision surgery (n=32). The surgeon participants (n=8) were experienced in cleft care. Facial imaging data that included 2D images, 3D images, videos, and objective 3D visual modelling of facial movements were collected from each patient, and compiled as a collage termed the Standardized Assessment for Facial Surgery (SAFS) for systematic viewing by the surgeons.
Interventions
The SAFS served as the intervention. Each surgeon viewed the SAFS for six distinct patients (two babies and four adolescents) and provided a list of surgical problems and goals. Then an in-depth-interview (IDI) was conducted with each surgeon to explore their decision-making processes. IDIs were conducted either in person or virtually, recorded, and then transcribed for qualitative statistical analyses using the Grounded Theory Method.
Results
Rich narratives/themes emerged that included timing of the surgery; risks/limitations and benefits of surgery; patient/family goals; planning for muscle repair and scarring; multiplicity of surgeries and their impact; and availability of resources. For diagnoses/treatments, surgeons agreed, and level of surgical experience was not a factor.
Conclusions
The themes provided important information to populate a checklist of considerations to serve as a guide for clinicians.
Full Text Availability
The license terms selected by the author(s) for this preprint version do not permit archiving in PMC. The full text is available from the preprint server.
