Patient Education to Improve Pain Management in Older Adults With Acute Musculoskeletal Pain: A Pilot Randomized Trial (BETTER_Pilot)

Sin intervención: Usual care

Pts will receive education and follow-up based on judgment of emergency provider.

Experimental: Video

Patients will watch 10 minute educational video

Conductual: Video

This is a 10 minute interactive video which provided information to the viewer regarding the safe and effective use of analgesics for acute musculoskeletal pain at home. The focus is on acetaminophen, NSAIDs, and opioids.

Experimental: Video plus Phone Follow-up

Patients will watch 10 minute educational video and receive phone call follow-up at 3 days to assess pain symptoms. Patients with a pain score of 4 or more will receive another call with advice from a geriatric pain specialist.

Conductual: Video

This is a 10 minute interactive video which provided information to the viewer regarding the safe and effective use of analgesics for acute musculoskeletal pain at home. The focus is on acetaminophen, NSAIDs, and opioids.

Conductual: Phone follow-up

The call will be made by the study coordinator, who is a medical student. Any patients reporting a pain score in the past 24 hours of 4 or more will be re-contacted by an emergency physician with special training in geriatric pain management. This individual will provide recommendations to the patient regarding treatment options.

Change in Pain Score

Change in Pain from emergency department (ED) visit to 30 day follow-up phone call will be measured by calculating the difference between the maximum pain score in the ED and the patient reported average overall pain severity in the past week using the 0-10 numeric rating scale for both measures.Change in pain will be reported as a negative number if the pain decreases (i.e., 10 to 8 = -2). Higher scores indicate a worse outcome.

Number of Participants Experiencing Medication Side Effects

Patients were asked if they experienced any of the following side effects: fatigue, drowsiness, trouble sleeping, trouble thinking, dizziness, unsteadiness, nausea, vomiting, constipation, abdominal pain, black or bloody stool, trouble urinating, loss of appetite, itching or shortness of breath. Patients were also queried about any other side effects they had that were not on the list.

Participants reporting at least one side effect were included.

Average Overall Pain at One Month

Determined using 0-10 numerical rating scale to answer the question "What is the average amount of pain you have experienced over the last week on a scale of 0-10. where 0 means no pain and 10 means pain as severe as it could possibly be.

Mean Physical Function Scores

Using a measure of higher-level physical function based on walking, climbing stairs, and carrying bags - scores range from 0 to 12 with higher score indicating higher function.