Effect of Patient Education on Reducing Medication in Spinal Cord Injury Patients With Neuropathic Pain

Abstract

ObjectiveTo determine whether providing education about the disease pathophysiology and drug mechanisms and side effects, would be effective for reducing the use of pain medication while appropriately managing neurogenic pain in spinal cord injury (SCI) patients.MethodsIn this prospective study, 109 patients with an SCI and neuropathic pain, participated in an educational pain management program. This comprehensive program was specifically created, for patients with an SCI and neuropathic pain. It consisted of 6 sessions, including educational training, over a 6-week period.ResultsOf 109 patients, 79 (72.5%) initially took more than two types of pain medication, and this decreased to 36 (33.0%) after the educational pain management program was completed. The mean pain scale score and the number of pain medications decreased, compared to the baseline values. Compared to the non-response group, the response group had a shorter duration of pain onset (p=0.004), and a higher initial number of different medications (p<0.001) and certain types of medications.ConclusionThis study results imply that an educational pain management program, can be a valuable complement to the treatment of spinal cord injured patients with neuropathic pain. Early intervention is important, to prevent patients from developing chronic SCI-related pain.

A scoping review of medication self-management intervention tools to support persons with traumatic spinal cord injury

“…Characteristics of included articles are displayed in Table 1 . All of the studies were quantitative [ 30 – 32 ]; two used a prospective design [ 30 , 32 ], and one was a retrospective analysis of a quasi-experimental design [ 31 ]. Two of the three studies had an SCI comparator group [ 31 , 32 ]; one compared the intervention group to a control group [ 31 ] and the other to a non-response group [ 32 ].…”

“…All of the studies were quantitative [ 30 – 32 ]; two used a prospective design [ 30 , 32 ], and one was a retrospective analysis of a quasi-experimental design [ 31 ]. Two of the three studies had an SCI comparator group [ 31 , 32 ]; one compared the intervention group to a control group [ 31 ] and the other to a non-response group [ 32 ]. All of the included articles were published within the last five years and each was conducted in a different country–Canada [ 30 ], the United States [ 31 ], and Korea [ 32 ].…”

“…The overall sample sizes of the studies varied (n = 20 [ 30 ], n = 207 [ 31 ], n = 109 [ 32 ]). All of the articles reported the sex of the participants, rather than gender, and all included a higher proportion of male participants than female [ 30 – 32 ].…”

“…The overall sample sizes of the studies varied (n = 20 [ 30 ], n = 207 [ 31 ], n = 109 [ 32 ]). All of the articles reported the sex of the participants, rather than gender, and all included a higher proportion of male participants than female [ 30 – 32 ]. Two of the articles reported the participants’ education level, with the majority of participants having at least a high school education [ 30 , 31 ].…”

Preventing pediatric chronic postsurgical pain: Time for increased rigor

“…Additionally, though patients may be educated on immediate postoperative complications (e.g., severe pain, fever, bleeding), there is no standard practice that includes educating patients on the potential long-term complications such as signs and symptoms of neuropathic pain (e.g., burning, tingling, shooting, numbness, “pins and needles”). 81 …”