The perioperative period is filled with stress, anxiety and fear. All of these psychosocial factors have been associated with poor outcomes. From a neuroscience perspective, the perioperative period is associated with a hypervigilant nervous system. This heightened state of the nervous system and various psychosocial issues have been the target of various perioperative interventions for more than a quarter of a century, including preoperative education, pre-emptive analgesia, etc. The culmination of this work is the routine preoperative education classes given to patients prior to surgery. From an orthopedic perspective, preoperative education is most prevalent in total knee and total hip arthroplasties. To date, however, three systematic reviews have shown no postoperative benefit to these programs in regards to postoperative pain, range of motion, length of hospital stay and function. Emerging pain neuroscience research has shown that these educational models fail partly due to a heavy focus on procedural and anatomical education, with little to no attention being given to pain-specific education. A newly designed preoperative pain neuroscience education program has shown that teaching patients more about pain prior to surgery leads various positive outcomes including significant decrease is healthcare utilization after surgery, patient satisfaction and more. This 3-week, self-paced class aims to introduce attendees to the development of the preoperative neuroscience education session, the content, delivery methods and clinical application of such a program for lumbar surgery and total knee arthroplasty.   

By the end of the course, a successful learner will be able to:

• Understand why a new bio-psycho-social approach was needed to address pain in orthopedic surgery. 
• Understand the development and validation process of the preoperative neuroscience education program for orthopedic surgery. 
• Be able to understand the content and delivery methods for the preoperative neuroscience educational program.
• Recognize why the preoperative neuroscience educational program produced superior results to the traditional biomedical model being utilized. 
• Apply the information from the educational session into clinical practice.

Evidence in Motion is an AOTA Approved Provider of professional development. PD activity approval ID #0000004287. This distance learning independent course is offered for .7 CEUs/7 contact hours at the intermediate educational level in the categories of OT service delivery and foundational knowledge. AOTA does not endorse specific course content, products, or clinical procedures.