Standardizing opioid prescriptions to patients after ambulatory oncologic surgery reduces overprescription.
Fearon NJ, Benfante N, Assel M, et al. Standardizing Opioid Prescriptions to Patients After Ambulatory Oncologic Surgery Reduces Overprescription. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2020;46(7):410-416. doi:10.1016/j.jcjq.2020.04.004.
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.