Implementation of Guidelines Limiting Postoperative Opioid Prescribing at a Children's Hospital

Variability in opioid-prescribing practices after common pediatric surgical procedures at our institution prompted the development of opioid-prescribing guidelines that provided suggested dose limitations for narcotics. The aims of this study were to improve opioid prescription practices through implementation of the developed guidelines and to assess compliance and identify barriers preventing guideline utilization.

We conducted a single-center cohort study of all children who underwent the most common outpatient general surgery procedures at our institution from August 1, 2018, to February 1, 2020. We created guidelines designed to limit opioid prescription doses based on data obtained from standardized postoperative telephone interviews. Three 6-month periods were evaluated: before guideline implementation, after guideline initiation, and after addressing barriers to guideline compliance. Targeted interventions to increase compliance included modification of electronic medical record defaults and provider educations. Differences in opioid weight-based doses prescribed, filled, and taken, as well as protocol adherence between the 3 timeframes were evaluated.

A total of 1033 children underwent an outpatient procedure during the 1.5-year time frame. Phone call response rate was 72.22%. There was a significant sustained decrease in opioid doses prescribed ( P < 0.0001), prescriptions filled ( P = 0.009), and opioid doses taken ( P = 0.001) after implementation, without subsequent increase in reported pain on postoperative phone call ( P = 0.96). Protocol compliance significantly improved (62.39% versus 83.98%, P < 0.0001) after obstacles were addressed.

Implementation of a protocol limiting opioid prescribing after frequently performed pediatric general surgery procedures reduced opioids prescribed and taken postoperatively. Interventions that addressed barriers to application led to increased protocol compliance and sustained decreases in opioids prescribed and taken without a deleterious effect on pain control.