Experience with a Nonopioid Protocol in Ambulatory Breast Surgery: Opioids are Rarely Necessary and Use is...

Surgeons write 1.8% of all prescriptions and 9.8% of all opioid prescriptions. Even small doses prescribed for short-term use can lead to abuse; thus, surgeons are uniquely able to combat the opioid epidemic by changing prescribing practices. As part of a department wide quality improvement project, we initiated a nonopioid protocol for all patients undergoing ambulatory breast surgery.

To determine the feasibility of a nonopioid protocol for patients undergoing ambulatory breast surgery and to determine if patient-related factors contribute to surgeon adherence to a nonopioid protocol in ambulatory breast surgery.

Retrospective chart review of a prospectively collected database, with χ² analysis and a multiple logistic regression model with the surgeon as the random effect.

Protocol adherence.

A total of 180 patients, with a median age of 63 years (range = 18-95 years), were included. Of these, 127 (70.6%) did not receive opioids; in this group there were 2 hematomas (1.6%), and 3 patients required an opioid prescription (2.4%). Fifty-three (29.4%) were prescribed opioids against protocol; in this group, there was 1 hematoma (1.9%). The operating surgeon was the only variable independently correlated with protocol adherence (p < 0.0001). Age, race/ethnicity, surgery type, and history of long-term opioid use were not.

Ambulatory breast surgery patients tolerated a nonopioid pain regimen well. Surgeons' decisions, rather than patient characteristics, primarily drove the choice of pain management in our study. We believe our protocol can be improved with stricter implementation and education, which must be balanced with practitioner independence.