Implementation of the Opioid Risk Tool in primary care: A DNP project

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain - United States, 2022 emphasizes the need to establish referral options for patients with opioid use disorder. The purpose of this quality improvement (QI) project was to determine the effectiveness of the integration of Webster and Webster's Opioid Risk Tool (ORT) into current opioid prescribing practices to improve identification of patients at risk for opioid use disorder for appropriate referrals and pain treatment.

A QI design was used to compare referral rates to pain management, behavioral health, and substance use disorder treatment facilities before and after the implementation of the ORT among patients with chronic noncancer pain in an integrated primary care clinic in a rural region of Arizona. This article is a report of the project and compares pre- and postimplementation data to assess outcomes of a practice change.

There were 375 participants in the project, including 212 in the preimplementation group and 163 in the postimplementation group. There were 46 referrals (22%) in the preimplementation group compared with 55 referrals (34%) in the postimplementation group.

In this project, referral rates to pain management, behavioral health, and substance use disorder treatment facilities increased after integration of the ORT. Providers can use the ORT to identify at-risk patients and provide a network of treatment options.