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Parental Report of Morphine Use at Home after Pediatric Surgery

Myrna Abou-Karam1, Sandrine Dubé1, Héléna Soriya Kvann1

  • 1Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada; Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

The Journal of Pediatrics
|July 25, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Many children prescribed morphine for postoperative pain at home do not receive the medication as directed. A significant amount of prescribed morphine is dispensed but not administered, indicating a need to reassess prescribing practices.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Surgery
  • Pain Management
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Acute postoperative pain in children requires effective management.
  • Home-based pain management strategies are crucial for pediatric recovery.
  • Morphine is commonly prescribed for moderate to severe postoperative pain in children.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To describe the utilization patterns of morphine prescribed for home use in pediatric patients after surgery.
  • To evaluate adherence to morphine prescriptions and identify factors influencing its administration.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective, descriptive study involving children under 12 years old discharged with a morphine prescription.
  • Parents maintained a logbook of morphine use, with follow-up calls conducted 3 days post-discharge.
  • Outcomes included adherence to prescription, prescription filling rates, storage, administration devices, and disposal.

Main Results:

  • 56% of children on regular morphine and 85% on as-needed prescriptions received medication as prescribed.
  • Despite 76% filling as-needed prescriptions, most received two doses or less.
  • Detailed data revealed only 9.2% of prescribed morphine doses were administered.

Conclusions:

  • Substantial quantities of prescribed morphine are dispensed to homes but remain unadministered.
  • There is a clear need to re-evaluate the quantity of morphine prescribed and dispensed for pediatric surgical patients.
  • Optimizing morphine prescribing can reduce waste and potentially improve patient management.
Abstract

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