Decreasing Unused Opioids in the Home Post Supracondylar Fracture Repair

Overview

Over the past two decades, the misuse of prescription opioids has significantly increased. A recent systematic review reported as much as 67% to 92% of opioids dispensed on discharge post-surgery go unused. This culture of overprescribing is consistently observed across surgical specialties. Less frequently observed is the potential for opioid use and misuse in children and adolescents post-surgery. The research to date in this area has been poorly performed with heterogenous data collection, analysis and reporting, as well as large loss of patients to follow-up. The investigators' previous prospective observational deception study identified three areas of concern: 1. There is a culture of postoperative opioid over-prescribing at discharge as demonstrated by heterogenous opioid dosing and duration of treatments across practitioners for single procedures 2. This overprescribing is in excess of patients' home-requirements and results in significant quantities of leftover opioids 3. There is a culture of inappropriate storage and lack of safe disposal of prescribed opioids in the community

This study focuses on addressing and minimizing pediatric surgical over-prescribing. It aims to reduce the amount of opioids prescribed by focusing prescribers and families on regular use of simple non-opioid analgesics, as well as decreasing the amount of opioids prescribed and dispensed.

Conditions

Eligibility