Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, Annals of Surgery, 2(278), p. 208-215, 2022
DOI: 10.1097/sla.0000000000005680
Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, Journal of The American College of Surgeons, 4(231), p. S97, 2020
DOI: 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2020.07.183
Full text: Unavailable
Objective: To compare patient-reported outcomes before and after implementation of evidence-based, procedure-specific opioid prescribing guidelines. Background: The opioid epidemic remains a significant public health issue. Many institutions have responded by reducing opioid prescribing after surgery. However, the impact of this on patient-reported outcomes remains poorly understood. Methods: Opioid-naïve adults undergoing 12 elective general surgery procedures at a single institution prospectively completed telephone surveys at median 26 days from discharge. Patients were compared before (March 2017–January 2018) and after (May 2019–November 2019) implementation of evidence-based, procedure-specific opioid prescribing guidelines. Results: A total of 603 preguideline and 138 postguideline patients met inclusion criteria and completed surveys. Overall, 60.5% of preguideline and 92.5% of postguideline prescriptions fell within recommendations (P<0.001), while refill rates were similar (4.5% vs 5.8%, P=0.50). A statistically significant drop in median morphine milligram equivalent prescribed was observed for 9 of 12 procedures (75%). No opioids were prescribed for 16.7% of patients in both cohorts (P=0.98). While 93.3% of preguideline and 87.7% of postguideline patients were very/somewhat satisfied with their pain control, the proportion of patients who were very/somewhat dissatisfied increased from 4.2% to 9.4% (P=0.039). Conclusions: Prescribing guidelines successfully reduced opioid prescribing without increased refill rates. Despite decreased prescribing overall, there was a continued reluctance to prescribe no opioids after surgery. Although most patients experienced good pain control, there remains a subset of patients whose pain is not optimally managed in the era of reduced opioid prescribing.