Study of Opioid Use After Lumbar and Cervical Spine Surgery

Overview

The purpose of this project is to assess the impact of an educational video on the use of prescription opioid medication during a 6-month period following spine surgery. Subjects will be recruited from the pool of patients coming in for the pre-operative appointment prior to spine surgery. Patients that consent and enroll will be randomized to receive either a brief educational video at this appointment or usual care. Patients will be followed after surgery weekly for the first month, and then again at 6 months to determine their prescription opioid medication utilization patterns. Prescription data will also be pulled from electronic medical records.

After consenting, meeting inclusion criteria, and enrollment, all participants will complete several standard self-report questionnaires related to medical history, social demographic, and psychosocial variables that are related to low back pain, and often used in clinics that manage patients with low back pain. They will then be randomized to either receive the education, or only usual care (which is the typical information the surgeon provides the patient verbally during the pre-operative appointment). All patients will receive the usual care education from their surgeon. Education Group: The educational video is a white board style patient-centric video. The content of the education focus on providing a historical perspective for opioid prescription from the time when the risk of dependence was highly underestimated. The video discusses the current evidence for the effect of opioid medications in non-cancer on-acute pain. It also discusses some of the dangers of long-term opioid usage. All Subjects: All subjects will receive the usual care education that is typically given by their surgeon. That will be left up to the discretion of each surgeon. All patients will proceed with the surgical procedure as planned. Each week during the 1-month period after the surgery, patients will be contacted, and then again at 6 months to ask history of prescription opioid utilization.