title: The effect of a preoperative educational film on patients' postoperative pain in relation to their request for opioids.
abstract: Guidelines for postoperative pain treatment are based on patients' pain scores. Patients with an intermediate Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) score of 5 or 6 may consider their pain as either bearable or unbearable, which makes it difficult to decide on pain treatment because guidelines advise professionals to treat pain at NRS > 4. Educating patients in using an NRS score for pain might improve adequate pain treatment. A quasi-randomized controlled trial was conducted in which 194 preoperative patients watched the educational film and 183 the control film. Pain scores were considered discordant when patients reported an NRS ≤ 4 and wanted additional opioids or when patients reported an NRS > 4 and did not want additional opioids. Beliefs, fear, and knowledge of pain; pain assessment; and pain treatment were measured by questionnaires. No significant differences in discordant pain scores between the groups were found: relative risk (RR) 0.73, confidence interval (CI) 0.47-1.15 at rest and RR 0.96, CI 0.72-1.28 at movement. Patients in the intervention group had lower NRS pain scores than patients in the control group. In the intervention group, patients had significantly more knowledge and lower barriers to pain management compared with the control group. We did not find a statistically significant reduction in discordant pain scores when comparing the intervention group with the control group. However, patients in the intervention group had significantly lower pain scores, lower barriers, and more knowledge of pain treatment than patients in the control group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Pain Clinic, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: j.f.m.vandijk@umcutrecht.nl.
authors.forename: Jacqueline F M
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: van Dijk
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Pain Clinic, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Albert J M
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: van Wijck
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Pain Clinic, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Teus H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Kappen
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Pain Clinic, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Department of Epidemiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Julius Centre for Health Sciences and Primary Care, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Linda M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Peelen
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Pain Clinic, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Cor J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Kalkman
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing Science, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marieke J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Schuurmans
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D059408:Pain Management / Q000379:methods*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology*; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000193:education*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid