Open AccessText Messaging Reduces Analgesic Requirements During Surgery
Author(s) -
Guillory Jamie E.,
Hancock Jeffrey T.,
Woodruff Christopher,
Keilman Jeffrey
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
pain medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.893
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1526-4637
pISSN - 1526-2375
DOI - 10.1111/pme.12610
Subject(s) - distraction , odds , medicine , perioperative , analgesic , odds ratio , anesthesia , fentanyl , logistic regression , psychology , neuroscience
Objective This study aims to determine whether communicating via short message service text message during surgery procedures leads to decreased intake of fentanyl for patients receiving regional anesthesia below the waist compared with a distraction condition and no intervention. Methods Ninety‐eight patients receiving regional anesthesia for minor surgeries were recruited from a hospital in M ontreal, QC , between J anuary and M arch 2012. Patients were randomly assigned to text message with a companion, text message with a stranger, play a distracting mobile phone game, or receive standard perioperative management. Participants who were asked to text message or play a game did so before receiving the anesthetic and continued until the end of the procedure. Results The odds of receiving supplemental analgesia during surgery for patients receiving standard perioperative management were 6.77 ( P = 0.009; N = 13/25) times the odds for patients in the text a stranger condition (N = 22/25 of patients), 4.39 times the odds for those in the text a companion condition ( P = 0.03; N = 19/23), and 1.96 times the odds for those in the distraction condition ( P = 0.25; N = 17/25). Conclusion Text messaging during surgery provides analgesic‐sparing benefits that surpass distraction techniques, suggesting that mobile phones provide new opportunities for social support to improve patient comfort and reduce analgesic requirements during minor surgeries and in other clinical settings.