Educating surgical patients about safe use of opioids: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract Background Currently, it is not routine practice in the preoperative clinic to provide standardized patient education for safe postoperative opioid use. We aimed to evaluate the impact of an educational pamphlet for surgical patients on knowledge about safe opioid use. Methods This multi-center randomized controlled study recruited 100 adult patients in the preoperative clinic. All patients completed a baseline knowledge questionnaire consisting of 10 questions. Patients were randomized to intervention: educational pamphlet, or control: no pamphlet. Questionnaires were repeated immediately post-education in the intervention group, and at 15, and 30 days after surgery in both groups. The primary outcome was change in knowledge score post-education in the intervention compared to control group. Results Between groups, the immediate post-education score in the intervention group was significantly higher than control group baseline 34.2 [95% Confidence interval (CI) 33.1-35.3] vs 28.3 [95% CI 26.6-29.9]; P Conclusions Educating surgical patients with a simple educational pamphlet improved patients’ scores on a standardized test about opioids up to 30 days after surgery.