NCT01063790

The Effect of an Individualized Education Intervention on Pain Following Inguinal Hernia Repair Surgery

The Effect of an Individualized Education Intervention Versus Usual Care on Pain Following Ambulatory Inguinal Hernia Repair

• Status: Completed
• Phase: EARLY_Phase 1
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 82 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Toronto · Academic / Other
• Sex: Male
• Age: 18 Years – 90 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Pain after inguinal hernia repair surgery is common with more than 50% of patients reporting moderate to severe acute pain following surgery. Analgesics are helpful in managing this pain but patients can be reluctant to take analgesics due to potential adverse effects such as nausea, vomiting or constipation. Patients may also be concerned about addiction to analgesics or they may believe that experiencing moderate to severe pain after surgery is to be expected. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of an individualized education program regarding pain and management of adverse effects on pain after inguinal hernia repair surgery.

Detailed description

There is clear evidence that patients who have undergone ambulatory inguinal hernia (IHR) repair have significant pain following surgery. Inguinal hernia repair has been identified as one of the most painful ambulatory surgery procedures, with 98% of patients reporting pain 24 hours following IHR surgery, and 54% of patients experiencing moderate to severe pain in the first 72 hours. Despite experiencing continued pain, patients do not always take the prescribed analgesics. Analgesics are helpful in managing post-operative pain but may have adverse effects, including nausea, vomiting or constipation, which are often not managed. Almost half of all patients who undergo ambulatory surgery experience these adverse effects with 45% experiencing constipation and 46% experiencing nausea and/or vomiting in the first 48 hours after surgery. As well, patients may have concerns about addiction, or asking for help to manage their pain and may believe that moderate to severe pain is to be expected, contributes to healing and therefore is to be tolerated following surgery. Patients are expected to manage this pain and adverse effects of analgesics at home. Minimal research has been found regarding interventions to manage pain following ambulatory surgery, and none found specifically for patients undergoing inguinal hernia repair. The purpose of this trial is to investigate the impact of an individualized pre-operative pain education intervention that includes a booklet with telephone support pre-operatively and after discharge home versus usual care for patients having IHR surgery. The primary outcome will be worst pain on movement in the past 24 hours and the secondary outcomes will be pain related interference, pain quality, analgesic use and adverse effects, and patient satisfaction and concerns with pain management.

Conditions

• Pain

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Individualized Education	The intervention consists of written information in the form of a booklet, an individualized face to face education session and two telephone support calls regarding post-discharge pain management, adverse effects of analgesics and common concerns about asking for help with pain.Participants in the intervention group will also receive two telephone support calls. The purpose of the telephone support calls is to readdress the information that patients received in the booklet and to clarify concerns regarding post-operative pain management that were discussed during the individualized education session.

Timeline

• Start date: 2009-10-01
• Primary completion: 2011-01-01
• Completion: 2012-07-01
• First posted: 2010-02-05
• Last updated: 2012-07-16

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada