Facilitators and barriers to eliciting physical function goals before and after surgery: A qualitative study with clinicians

Objective: Describe clinicians' perspectives of facilitators and barriers to eliciting physical function goals from patients with multiple chronic conditions pre- and post-surgery.

Methods: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with clinicians, recruited from an academic medical center, who treat adult patients with multiple chronic conditions. Purposive sampling ensured multiple provider types were represented. Interviews were conducted in person or via web conference and were audio recorded. Findings were summarized using descriptive qualitative content analysis.

Results: Of the 12 participating clinicians, 92% were female and 83% specialized in geriatrics. Clinicians had a mean of 10.7 (min-max: 1-30) years of experience. Key facilitators to goal-setting conversations were sufficient time, familial support, and patient cognitive ability. Barriers included lack of time, lack of training, patient challenges in choosing realistic and specific actionable goals, emotional barriers, and cognitive challenges.

Conclusion: Some facilitators and barriers are modifiable, including time, inclusion of family members in the clinical encounter, and clinician training to enable actionable goal setting. These results highlight areas for intervention to facilitate goal elicitation for physical function in clinical care settings.

Practice implications: Clinicians should be aware of the barriers impacting eliciting goals. Healthcare organizations could consider providing effective goal elicitation training and tools to facilitate goal setting conversation.