Opioid Prescriber Education and Guidelines for Ambulatory Upper-Extremity Surgery: Evaluation of an Institutional Protocol

The Impact of State Level Public Policy, Prescriber Education, and Patient Factors on Opioid Prescribing in Elective Orthopedic Surgery: Findings From a Tertiary, Academic Setting

“…These results add to a growing body of literature on the value of public policy and prescriber and patient education on reducing opioid consumption and unused opioids in the community. Other smaller studies have demonstrated reductions in opioid prescribing after outpatient hand surgery after prescriber education 11 and changes to prescriber order sets. 21 However, these results were limited to hand surgery patients.…”

“…7 Unfortunately, there is little available evidence to guide postoperative opioid prescriptions and even less consensus to define appropriate postoperative opioid dosages in orthopedic surgery. 11 However, it has been shown that high-risk opioid prescribing is common, and it can lead to overuse by the patient or diversion to others [12][13][14][15][16] ; therefore, effective methods to limit extremes in opioid prescription are warranted.…”

“…[17][18][19] Because provider education has demonstrated significant results in reducing opioid prescriptions, the orthopedic surgery department at our institution undertook a project to reduce the amount of high-risk opioid prescribing within the department. 11,20,21 A committee within the department evaluated information regarding opioid prescribing after orthopedic procedures and identified a lack of education regarding opioids for both our providers and our patients. In response, educational materials regarding responsible opioid prescribing, opioid use, and North Carolina law were generated and distributed to practitioners and patients.…”

Outcomes of Preoperative Opioid Usage in Hip Arthroscopy: A Comparison With Opioid-Naïve Patients

“…The opioid epidemic has resulted in several large institutions attempting to provide opioid prescription education and standardization algorithms for orthopedic surgeons. With such strategies implemented, Stepan et al 25 demonstrated a 52.3% reduction in total prescriptions after dissemination of their guidelines in hand and upper-extremity surgery. Although several institutions have attempted to integrate opioid prescription guidelines, 26 thus far to our knowledge no outcomes have been published for hip arthroscopy or orthopaedic sports surgery.…”

Factors associated with discharge opioid prescription after hip fracture fixation

“…In a comparative study between American and Dutch patients treated for hip and ankle fractures, Lindenhovius et al (2009) showed that 77% of American patients and 0% of Dutch patients were prescribed opioid analgesics upon discharge from the hospital, highlighting the importance of patient education and expectations in postoperative pain management. Multiple studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of prescriber education programs and institutional prescription guidelines in reducing the incidence of opioid overprescription after orthopedic surgery (Earp, Silver, Mora, & Blazar, 2018; Stepan et al, 2019; Stepan et al, 2019). Programs addressing these modifiable discharge medication variations within hospital systems may be considered to reduce the interinstitutional variability in opioid prescription for similar injuries.…”