Study findings demonstrated a high prevalence of moderate to severe pain after cardiac surgery and insufficient analgesic administration. Results indicated that patients were discharged from hospital with unrelieved pain and a potential risk for further postoperative complications.

Postoperative pain and inadequate analgesic use were problems for many participants regardless of group allocation, and the current intervention did not reduce worst pain intensity compared with control. Further examination of supportive follow-up monitoring and/or self-management strategies post-discharge is required.

The study illuminates that patients may need more individualized and adapted information prior to discharge, as well as more multidisciplinary follow-up by doctors, physiotherapists and possibly home care nurses. We recommend more studies examining how patients experience pain and rehabilitation during the first weeks after completing arthroplasty.

These results suggest that informing patients (particularly women) about the benefits of analgesic use following cardiac surgery may result in less pain over the first year post discharge.

Patients need more individualized and gender-specific information before early discharge from cardiac surgery to improve self-management. More specific predischarge education on self-management using analgesics regularly might prevent pain ratings rising to a severe level after discharge home.