Standardization of Post-operative Opiate Prescriptions for Same-day Ankle and Wrist Fracture Surgeries
Opioid Use, Post-operative Pain, Prescription Opioid Abuse
About this trial
This is an interventional supportive care trial for Opioid Use
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
- Ankle and wrist fracture patients booked for ORIF (via Walking Wounded program)
- Opioid naïve (Opiates prescribed in emergency not included)
- Competent to give informed consent and respond to questionnaires independently
- English or French speaking
Exclusion Criteria:
- Admission to hospital pre- or post-operatively
- Chronic opioid use for pain unrelated to injury
- Chronic pain in injured extremity, unrelated to acute injury
- Previous fracture/surgery to injured limb
- Revision ORIF
- Dementia or cognitive impairment
Sites / Locations
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
No Intervention
Experimental
Standard of care cohort
Standardized prescription cohort
Eligible wrist and ankle fracture patients booked for open reduction and internal fixation through our emergency day surgery program will be recruited and consented via telephone prior to their surgery date. The study participants will receive a post-operative prescription at the discretion of their attending surgeon, fellow or resident, with no intervention from the researchers involved in this study. On post-operative day three and post-operative day ten, these patients will be contacted by phone by the research team and asked to respond verbally to a questionnaire. Measures including quantity of opiates consumed, pain intensity and satisfaction with pain treatment will be recorded.
Using the data collected from the standard of care cohort, a standardized pain prescription will be created. The average quantity of opiates consumed by the standard of care participants will be used to guide the quantity of opiates to be prescribed on the standardized prescription. In this arm, all eligible patients will be contacted and recruited by telephone prior to their surgery. These patients will be flagged on the day of surgery and given the standardized prescription post-operatively. They will then be asked to respond to the same questionnaires as the standard of care cohort via telephone on post-op day three and post-op day ten.