Innovative patient education and pain management protocols to achieve opioid-free shoulder arthroplasty

Background: The creation of pain as the fifth vital sign led to skyrocketing opioid prescriptions and a crisis with addiction and abuse among Americans. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a patient engagement model including education and innovative opioid-free multimodal pain management to achieve an opioid-free recovery after shoulder arthroplasty (SA). Methods: Fifty patients undergoing SA were divided into 2 groups. In the opioid-free group (OFG), patients received additional preoperative education in combination with an innovative non-opioid multimodal pain management protocol and non-opioid alternatives. Patients were compared regarding pain levels and opioid consumption at 48 hours and at 2 weeks, as well as patient-reported outcome measures, using Student t tests. Results: No significant differences were found in age (average, 69.76 years) (P = .14), American Society of Anesthesiologists grade (average, 2.25) (P = .24), sex, body mass index (average, 29.5) (P = .34), or comorbidity burden. In the OFG, 24% of patients reported use of rescue opioids (