Experience, Thoughts, and Attitudes of Orthopaedic Surgeons about Chronic Postsurgical Pain after Arthroplasty

Abstract

Objective: Arthroplasty constitutes a major procedure commonly used in orthopaedic and traumatology surgery, and chronic pain develops in 7%–34% of patients after arthroplasty. This study aims to evaluate the experience, thoughts and attitudes of orthopaedic surgeons about chronic postsurgical pain after arthroplasty. Methods: The survey was sent to orthopaedic surgeons via the Google survey system. The questionnaire consisted of 17 questions in total; four were related to demographic information, two asked about the surgeons’ experience, three asked for their thoughts, and eight queried their attitudes. Results: The study evaluated 319 participants. All the orthopaedic surgeons reported that they routinely prescribe for postoperative pain control when discharging patients after arthroplasty. Of those surveyed, 69.7% have used multimodal analgesic therapy to treat chronic postsurgical pain after arthroplasty. Consultation rates were 5% and 20% for psychiatry and pain physician, respectively. A weak positive correlation was found between the rate of referring patients with chronic postsurgical pain after arthroplasty to pain physician and the beliefs of orthopaedic surgeons that pain physician can help patients with chronic postsurgical pain after arthroplasty who are unresponsive to pharmacological treatments (p = 0.008, r = 0.148). Conclusion: Orthopaedic surgeons employ pre-emptive approaches to chronic postsurgical pain after arthroplasty and engage in pharmacological management of chronic postsurgical pain after arthroplasty, but they need to advance further with multidisciplinary treatments and directions.