title: Text messaging reduces analgesic requirements during surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aims to determine whether communicating via short message service text message during surgery procedures leads to decreased intake of fentanyl for patients receiving regional anesthesia below the waist compared with a distraction condition and no intervention.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety-eight patients receiving regional anesthesia for minor surgeries were recruited from a hospital in Montreal, QC, between January and March 2012. Patients were randomly assigned to text message with a companion, text message with a stranger, play a distracting mobile phone game, or receive standard perioperative management. Participants who were asked to text message or play a game did so before receiving the anesthetic and continued until the end of the procedure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The odds of receiving supplemental analgesia during surgery for patients receiving standard perioperative management were 6.77 (P=0.009; N=13/25) times the odds for patients in the text a stranger condition (N=22/25 of patients), 4.39 times the odds for those in the text a companion condition (P=0.03; N=19/23), and 1.96 times the odds for those in the distraction condition (P=0.25; N=17/25).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Text messaging during surgery provides analgesic-sparing benefits that surpass distraction techniques, suggesting that mobile phones provide new opportunities for social support to improve patient comfort and reduce analgesic requirements during minor surgeries and in other clinical settings.
authors.affiliation: Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Jamie E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Guillory
authors.forename: Jeffrey T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Hancock
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Woodruff
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Keilman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005283:Fentanyl / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009294:Narcotics / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D059408:Pain Management / Q000379:methods*; D060145:Text Messaging
chemical_list: D009294:Narcotics; D005283:Fentanyl
keywords: Fentanyl; Psychosocial Factors; Social