Surgical interns: Preparedness for opioid prescribing before and after a training intervention

Exposure to pain management curriculum in medical school is currently variable. This paper reports on formal prescribing education, self-perceived prescribing readiness, and prescribing practices among incoming surgical residents before and after a pain management training session.

Pre-residency survey of thirty surgical interns at a single urban medical center, followed by a repeat survey after an educational session on prescription writing and opioid abuse.

Thirty-three percent of respondents had formal education on prescription writing in medical school. Median subjective preparedness to write an opioid prescription was 1.5 (range 1-10) on a 1-10 Likert scale. Ranges of morphine milligram equivalents (MME) prescribed varied from 420-2700 MME for 8 mock surgical scenarios. Post-training, median subjective preparedness increased to 3.5 (range 1-6) and prescription accuracy (the inclusion of a medication, dose, frequency, and duration) improved from 75% to 97% (p < 0.001). Overall, 90% of interns found the training session useful.

Most surgical interns were not trained in prescribing narcotics in medical school. Improved pain management curriculum is necessary to assure safe and consistent opioid prescriptions.