Decreasing Post-Operative Narcotic Usage Following Total Knee Arthroplasty Requires More than Simple Education: A Blinded Randomized Controlled Trial

• Published in: The Orthopedic clinics of North America Vol. 54; no. 4; p. 377
• Main Authors: Cusma, William H, Davis, Benjamin J, Mak, Ryan A, Brown, Nicholas M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.10.2023
• Subjects: Analgesics, Opioid - therapeutic use; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee - adverse effects; Female; Humans; Male; Narcotics; Pain, Postoperative - drug therapy; Pain, Postoperative - prevention & control; Postoperative Period; Knee; Narcotic; Education; Opioid; Arthroplasty; Post-operative; TKA
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ocl.2023.06.001

The purpose of this study was to understand if including a patient opioid education document would decrease opioid consumption following TKA. Patients were balanced between the control and intervention group based on age, sex, and date of surgery. At 5 weeks following surgery, there were significantly fewer patients driving in the education cohort as compared to the control cohort. There was not a significant difference in mean 2-week post-operative VAS pain score, mean 5 weeks post-operative VAS pain score, mean number of dispensed pills. Reducing post-operative narcotic usage likely requires a more comprehensive strategy.