Five different solutions to mitigate overprescribing opioid medications.

Area of Science:

• Dental Medicine
• Public Health
• Pain Management

Background:

• Opioid prescribing in dental schools requires careful management.
• The University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine aimed to reduce opioid prescriptions between 2016-2020.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement and evaluate a 5-step quality improvement strategy to mitigate opioid prescribing.
• To significantly decrease the quantity of opioids prescribed in a dental school setting.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective study analyzed a 5-step quality improvement strategy.
• Key interventions included developing a Dental Pain Management Protocol, educating pre-doctoral students, incorporating pain research findings, creating an electronic prescription list, and providing patient instructions on non-opioid analgesics.

Main Results:

• A significant decrease in opioid prescribing trends was observed (P=0.05).
• Overall opioid prescription writing decreased by 68.8%.
• The number of opioid pills prescribed decreased by 78.6% over the study period.

Conclusions:

• Simple guidelines and protocols effectively reduced opioid prescribing in dental medicine.
• The implemented strategy resulted in substantial reductions with limited negative feedback from faculty and patients.