Patients who need surgery to fix major bone fractures use fewer opioid pills after their procedure if they’re reminded of their values—and those reminders don’t necessarily need to come from a doctor, according to a new study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
“We show that opioid medication utilization could be decreased by more than a third in an at-risk patient population by delivering psychotherapy via a chatbot,” says the study’s lead author, Christopher Anthony, the associate director of Hip Preservation at Penn Medicine and an assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery. “While it must be tested with future investigations, we believe our findings are likely transferrable to other patient populations.”
Although opioids can be appropriate to treat the pain that results from an injury like a broken leg or arm, there is a concern that a large prescription of opioids might be an on-ramp to dependence for many. The researchers believe a low-effort, patient-centered approach to reducing the number of opioids taken can be a valuable method for cutting into the opioid epidemic.
While the two groups in the study received the same prescription of an opioid medication for pain, just one group was enrolled in a daily text-messaging program. That group received two daily text messages to their phones for two weeks after their procedure from an automated “chatbot”—a computer that uses artificial intelligence to send messages—starting the day after their surgery. The goal of each message was to help focus patients and hone their coping skills for the inevitable pain after such a procedure.
This story is by Frank Otto. Read more at Penn Medicine News.
