What do patients think about opioids? a survey of patient perceptions regarding pain control after shoulder surgery

There is an increasing need to understand what barriers are present to reduce opioid consumption in orthopedic practice. The purpose of this study was to better understand patient perceptions and understanding of opioid use after shoulder surgery.

Eighty-five patients who underwent shoulder surgery anonymously completed a 27-question survey adapted from the Maryland Public Opinion Survey on Opioids with additional demographics. The patients were asked about pain expectations after surgery, use of and access to opioids, opioid perceptions, and information provided regarding safe use, storage, and disposal of opioids.

When asked about receiving information regarding opioids, only 36% of the patients reported having a conversation with their physician. When asked about appropriate use, 10% agree it is permissible to take more than the recommended dosage of prescription narcotics if they are feeling more pain than usual and 8.5% of the patients reported taking an opioid to get high multiple times in the past year. Furthermore, a majority agreed that opioids may lead to other substance abuse with 76% reporting the risk of harm to be great, and only 55% believing that opioid abuse may lead to overdose or death.

Surgeons need to be aware that most patients expect to have significant pain after shoulder surgery and expect to be given necessary and continued amounts of opioids. This highlights the need for better counseling and innovative nonopioid pain management protocols. At the institutional level, more effort needs to be made on providing adequate education and disposal mechanisms to help reduce diversion and misuse.