In emergency general surgery (EGS), there’s often no standardized approach to prescribing opioids for postoperative pain, raising concerns about overprescription. To address this, researchers introduced an opioid prescribing guideline. After implementation, they observed a significant reduction in prescribed opioid dosages at discharge. The proportion of patients receiving high-dose opioid prescriptions (≥50 morphine milligram equivalents per day) decreased from 75% to 25%. Importantly, this reduction in opioid use didn’t lead to an increase in post-discharge refills, demonstrating the guideline’s effectiveness in curbing opioid prescriptions for EGS patients.
Journal Article by Biesboer EA, Al Tannir AH (…) Trevino C et 7 al. in J Surg Res
Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.