Efficacy of a digital pain management intervention on pain and reliance on opioids in patients with rib fractures

Digital behavioural pain management - Delivered entirely via one-way SMS (text messaging) - Patients will initially be sent an SMS with a link to an online video resource containing brief, evidence based, behavioural pain management education (BPME). The video will be approximately 10 minutes in duration and will include narrated, animated PowerPoint slides with information on behavioural pain management strategies (e.g., relaxation techniques and distraction) as well as education about rib fractures (e.g., timeline of recovery). Patients will then receive two SMS per day (mid-morning and mid-afternoon) for 14 consecutive days (encompassing up to a week of hospitalisation and one-week post-discharge). Text messages serve to remind patients about the information provided in the behavioural pain management educational video (e.g., “If you inhale deeply, your lungs will stay healthy and reduce your chance of an infection”) and reassure patients that pain after rib fractures is normal (“Rib fractures are surprisingly common and can really hurt. Hang in there though! It will hurt less and less every day as your body heals”). - Intervention will be co-designed with patients who have recently been in hospital with rib fractures and clinicians experienced in managing rib fractures. Patients and clinicians will be presented with the online video resource and example text messages and invited to provide feedback on appropriateness and usefulness/helpfulness. The content of the video and text messages will be adjusted in response to the feedback. - Intervention will be received in addition to usual care. Usual care in this context is multidisciplinary with a focus on maximising non-opioid analgesia while encouraging pulmonary hygiene. It may include incentive spirometry, high flow nasal prong oxygen, and/or multimodal analgesia (including patient-controlled analgesia). - Engagement with the video will be assessed using a study-specific questionnaire shortly after participants receive the link to the video. Participants will asked to confirm they have watched the video by answering two questions about the content of the video. - Engagement with the text messages will be assessed using a using a study-specific questionnaire at the end of the study. Participants in the intervention group will be asked whether or not they read the text messages they were sent during the study.