BackgroundMusculoskeletal pain is a common reason for emergency department (ED) visits. Following discharge from the ED, patients, particularly older patients, often have difficulty controlling their pain and managing analgesic side effects. We conducted a pilot study of an educational video about pain management with and without follow-up telephone support for older adults presenting to the ED with musculoskeletal pain.MethodsED patients aged 50 years and older with musculoskeletal pain were randomized to: (1) usual care, (2) a brief educational video only, or (3) a brief educational video plus a protocol-guided follow-up telephone call from a physician 48–72 hours after discharge (telecare). The primary outcome was the change from the average pain severity before the ED visit to the average pain severity during the past week assessed one month after the ED visit. Pain was assessed using a 0–10 numerical rating scale.ResultsOf 75 patients randomized (mean age 64 years), 57 (76%) completed follow up at one month. Of the 18 patients lost to follow up, 12 (67%) had non-working phone numbers. Among patients randomized to the video (arms 2 and 3), 46/50 viewed the entire video; among the 25 patients randomized to the video plus telecare (arm 3), 23 were reached for telecare. Baseline pain scores for the usual care, video, and video plus telecare groups were 7.3, 7.1, and 7.5. At one month, pain scores were 5.8, 4.9, and 4.5, corresponding to average decreases in pain of -1.5, -2.2, and -3.0, respectively. In the pairwise comparison between intervention groups, the video plus telecare group had a 1.7-point (95% CI 1.2, 2.1) greater decrease in pain compared to usual care, and the video group had a 1.1-point (95% CI 0.6, 1.6) greater decrease in pain compared to usual care after adjustment for baseline pain, age, and gender. At one month, clinically important differences were also observed between the video plus telecare and usual care groups for analgesic side effects, ongoing opioid use, and physical function.ConclusionResults of this pilot trial suggest the potential value of an educational video plus telecare to improve outcomes for older adults presenting to the ED with musculoskeletal pain. Changes to the protocol are identified to increase retention for assessment of outcomes.Trials registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02438384. Registered on 5 May 2015.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13063-017-2403-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Algorithms that rely exclusively on primary discharge code position will miss approximately 50% of all MI cases due to low sensitivity of this definition. We recommend defining MI by code 410 in any of first 5 discharge code positions overall and by codes 410 and 411.1 in any of first 3 positions for sensitivity analyses of women.

Purpose: Outpatient cardiac rehabilitation (CR) participation after myocardial infarction (MI) reduces all-cause mortality; however, less is known about effects of CR on post-MI hospitalization. The study objective was to investigate effects of CR on hospitalization following acute MI among older adults. Methods: Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 to 88 yr hospitalized in 2008 with acute MI, who survived at least 60 d post-discharge, had a revascularization procedure during index hospitalization, and did not have an MI in previous year were eligible for this study. CR initiation was assessed in the 60 d post-discharge. Competing risk survival analysis was used to estimate the proportion of discharged beneficiaries hospitalized between the end of 60-d exposure window and December 31, 2009, treating death as a competing event. Results: The mean ± SD age of 32 851 Medicare beneficiaries meeting study criteria was 75 ± 6.0 yr, approximately half were male (52%), and the majority were white (88%). In this study, 21% of beneficiaries initiated CR within the exposure window. At 1 yr post-discharge, CR initiators had a lower risk of recurrent MI (4.2% [95% CI, 3.5-5.1]), cardiovascular (15.7% [95% CI, 14.3-17.2]), and all-cause (30.4% [95% CI, 28.8-32.1]) hospitalization than noninitiators (5.2% [95% CI, 5.0-5.5]; 18.0% [95% CI, 17.6-18.4]; and 33.2% [95% CI, 32.5-33.8], respectively). There was no difference in fracture risk (negative control outcome). Conclusions: This study provides evidence that CR can reduce the 1-yr risk of cardiovascular and all-cause hospital admissions in Medicare aged MI survivors.