The Effect of Patient Education on Pain Level and Fear of Pain in Orthopedic Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Purpose: Patients experience pain after surgery, an expected symptom, and a common and important care problem. The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of patient education on pain level and fear of pain in orthopedic trauma patients.

Design: The study is a randomized controlled trial research design.

Methods: A total of 52 patients, 26 in the experimental group and 26 in the control group, were included in the study. The experimental group received patient education about the operative process and pain management the day before the operation and the morning of the surgery. The Information Form, Fear of Pain Scale-III, and Visual Analog Scale were used to gather data.

Findings: We found that the patients' pain levels were low. Patients had a fear of severe pain above the average level, fear of mild pain below the average level, and fear of medical pain at the time of hospitalization and discharge. The medical pain level of the patients in the experimental group at the time of discharge was lower than the fear of medical pain at the time of hospitalization.

Conclusions: Preoperative pain management education for orthopedic trauma patients is effective in reducing the fear of medical pain. We identified that pain management patient education to orthopedic trauma patients before surgery was effective in decreasing the fear of medical pain.

Trial registration: The study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov. Identifier: NCT05887596.