Prescribing Opioid Pain Relievers in the Emergency Department: Understanding and Optimizing the Encounter

Not Applicable

Completed

Brief Summary: The investigators overall study objective is to improve patients knowledge and safe use of opioid pain relievers upon discharge from the Emergency Department.

Detailed Description: Recent studies indicate that emergency department (ED) discharge processes - including written and spoken communications - are inadequate, and patients often leave without the knowledge necessary to properly care for themselves. In the context of opioid pain relievers, this lack of knowledge is potentially dangerous, as patients may not possess the requisite knowledge for safe use of their medication or an awareness of the dangers of medication misuse.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of an opioid information sheet and spoken counseling on patient knowledge about opioids and safe use behaviors. The investigators conducted a randomized controlled pilot test of a dual-modality educational intervention (written information sheet and spoken counseling about opioids) to assess if the intervention can increase patient knowledge about opioid pain relievers. These activities were intended to guide future modification of educational interventions and the future development of best practices for emergency physician spoken counseling about opioid pain relievers.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Exclusion Criteria

Non-English Speaking
Clinically unstable, psychologically impaired or intoxicated as judged by the research staff member.
Chronic opioid use, defined as daily or near daily use of opioid pain relievers for the past 90 days.
admitted to hospital
unable to complete follow up phone interview in 4 - 7 days.

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Dual Modality Educational Intervention	Additional Opioid Information	Patients in this arm are discharged from the ED with an additional information sheet about their prescribed opioid pain medication, via the intervention titled "Additional Opioid Information". The sheet is read aloud to them by a research assistant. They are called 4-7 days later for a follow up survey.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Knowledge of medication name	4-7 days	The primary outcome was the patients ability to identify the medication name of their prescribed opioid pain reliever upon follow-up.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Knowledge and counseling recall outcomes	4-7 days	In addition to the outcome of medication name patients were asked additional knowledge and recall questions including: active ingredients in the medication, knowledge about safe daily dose of acetaminophen, side effects, recall of counseling about activities to avoid (drinking alcohol, driving vehicle), knowledge about addictive potential of the medication.
Actual Use outcomes	4-7 days	Patients were queried about their home use of the medication including: pain score at home, average number of tabs per day, and satisfaction with pain reduction. Additionally they were asked about the timing of any alcohol consumption or driving in relation to the timing of medication dosing.
Response to the intervention	4-7 days	Patients in the intervention arm were asked how they liked the intervention using a series of question with a Likert scale.

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