Clinician-mediated and organization-level interventions are effective in creating change in postsurgical opioid prescribing, according to a study in JAMA Surgery.
Researchers searched PubMed and Embase from 2000 through March 2018 to identify studies that included interventions aimed at postsurgical opiate stewardship and evaluated outcomes. Two independent reviewers assessed the quality of the studies using the Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies. Eight studies were included in analysis.
The study shows that interventions implemented at the organization level, such changes to EHR order sets and workflow, showed clear positive results in changing postsurgical opioid prescribing behavior.
Also, two studies that focused on developing guidelines based on actual patient opioid use and distributing these guidelines to clinicians reported reductions of up to 53 percent in the quantity of opioids prescribed. The studies did not report increases in emergency department visits or refill requests.
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