Exploring the Relationship of Patients’ Opioid Knowledge and the Transitional Experience of Postoperative Pain Management: A Mixed Method Study

Abstract

Postoperative pain management can be a significant challenge after surgery. It is clear from the literature, however, that adequate discharge teaching does not always happen, or happens when patients are groggy, stressed, and possibly cognitively impaired. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a correlation between: 1) the change in patients’ opioid knowledge from admission to discharge from the hospital, and 2) the quality and experience of pain management for the patient after they return home. This research involved mixed methods methodology. The first phase comprised a convenience sample of 37 surgical patients who completed a quantitative Admission and Discharge survey measuring the change in opioid knowledge, an indication of the teaching received from all sources prior to discharge. The second phase was conducted in the patient’s home with 12 volunteers from the first phase. It included qualitative data collection using patient journal entries and a final semi-structured interview. The interview was conducted two weeks after the patient had completed all opioid pain medication. At the conclusion of data collection for the second phase, a phenomenological analysis was done, followed by a mixed methods analysis. The measurement of the change in opioid knowledge from the surveys was analyzed with the coded themes from the qualitative data to determine if there was a relationship between the experience of pain management and opioid knowledge at the time of discharge from the hospital.