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Study
Standardizing opioid prescriptions to patients after ambulatory oncologic surgery reduces overprescription.
July 1, 2020
Fearon NJ, Benfante N, Assel M, et al. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2020;46(7):410-416.
Opioid prescriptions are associated with harm among postoperative patients. This quality improvement project reduced and standardize opioid prescriptions upon discharge for opioid-naive patients undergoing oncologic surgery and evaluated the impact on subsequent opioid use and reported pain. Pre-standardization, the median opioid prescription at discharge was 20 pills (up to 140 milligrams morphine equivalent, or MME); post-standardization, prescriptions were set to 7-10 pills (24-75 MME) depending on the type of oncologic surgery.
