Standardising discharge post-surgical pain control: a quality improvement project

Healthcare-prescribed opioids are a known contributor to the opioid epidemic. Locally, there was an identified opportunity to improve opioid prescribing practices in cardiac surgical patients. The cardiac surgical team sought to standardise prescribing practices in postoperative patients and reduce opioid prescriptions at discharge. The improvement was undertaken at a large midwestern freestanding children's hospital with over 400 beds and 120 cardiac surgeries annually. A multidisciplinary team was formed, using the model for Improvement to guide the improvement work. The key improvement interventions included standardised evidence-based prescribing guidelines based patient age and surgical approach, enhanced pain management with non-opioid medications, and integration of prescribing guidelines into the electronic health record. The primary outcome measure was rate of compliance with the prescribing guidelines and secondary measures included morphine equivalent dosing at discharge, opioid-free discharge, and length of stay. A balancing measure of opioid re-prescriptions was tracked. There were 289 patients included in the primary study period (January 2019 through December 2021). Sustainability of key outcomes was tracked though December 2022. The guideline compliance increased from 24% to 100%. The morphine equivalent dosing decreased to 22.5 in 2021 then 0 in 2022, from baseline of 36.25 in 2019. Opioid-free discharges decreased from 8% (2019) to 1.5% (2021) and 0% in 2022. Establishment and compliance with standardised guidelines for post-operative cardiac surgical pain management yielded a reduction in morphine equivalent dosing, an increase opioid-free discharges, and no increase in length of stay or opioid re-prescriptions.