Patient Decision-Making

Socioeconomic status may influence whether patients prioritise surgeon qualifications and empathy or cost, insurance, and accessibility. Trust in physicians became central after outpatient consultation. Information gaps, reliance on trust, and unrealistic expectations can raise the risk of decisional regret and dissatisfaction after surgery. Many patients accepted surgery through trust rather than full understanding of risks and benefits because consultation time and medical knowledge were limited. Provider selection relied on informal and sometimes unreliable sources such as personal recommendations, online evaluations, reputation, location, cost, insurance, and local resource limits. Patients had to choose both a healthcare provider and whether to undergo TKA.