The Structured Medication Use Questionnaire: A Proposed Framework for Capturing Analgesic Medication Use Alongside Patient-Reported Pain Outcomes

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are widely used to assess pain and recovery following surgery.However, pain-related outcomes are observed in the context of ongoing analgesic treatment, and similar patient-reported outcomes may therefore occur under substantially different levels of pharmacological treatment.Information on concurrent analgesic medication use may provide important complementary context when interpreting postoperative PROMs.The Structured Medication Use Questionnaire (SMUQ) is proposed as a pragmatic framework for systematically capturing analgesic medication use alongside postoperative patient-reported outcomes.The questionnaire is designed to be administered alongside PROM assessments, using a 24-hour recall period during the first two postoperative weeks and a 14-day recall period thereafter.Reported medications are classified according to the World Health Organization Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification system.Medication exposure can be quantified using defined daily doses, while opioid exposure can additionally be expressed as oral morphine milligram equivalents.By documenting the pharmacological context in which patient-reported pain and recovery are observed, the SMUQ is intended to complement rather than replace conventional PROM assessment.The SMUQ is presented as a proposed methodological framework and has not yet undergone formal prospective validation.