Teach-Back Method; Improvement of Patient Comprehension of Nuss Procedure

Successful management of pediatric procedures is challenging. Many procedures have a detailed list of pre-procedural requirements and post-procedural pain control regimens. Patients and families often get lost in the many requirements needed before scheduling the procedure and often delay intervention. This delay can cost both the families and facility time and money but often leave the patient needlessly suffering. Inadequate pain control results in emergency room (ER) visits or hospital admissions for acute postoperative pain management. The opioid epidemic has significantly impacted postoperative opioid prescriptions at discharge. The limited prescriptions available after discharge, paired with inadequate understanding and support of discharge postoperative instructions by the family, result in increased acute postoperative pain management admissions. Postoperative pain is the leading cause of hospital readmissions within 48 hours of discharge. These ER visits are typically for issues that are easily addressed at home. Teach-back methods have shown to be the cornerstone of education, resulting in knowledge gained and increased pain regimen adherence. A literature review exploring current evidence regarding postoperative pain control and interventions coupled with teach-back was conducted to address this concern, and an evidenced-based intervention is proposed.