Effectively Managing Acute Pain for Pediatric Patients with Fewer Opioids

Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, kicked off an initiative in 2015 to provide patients with only as many opioid doses as they need to manage their pain and to educate patients and families about proper use and disposal of opioids, reducing the potential for misuse. By 2022, Nationwide Children’s had reduced the total number of outpatient opioid prescriptions for acute pain for pediatric patients by 83% and had reduced the average number of doses per prescription from 26.8 to 10.12, a 62% reduction. During that time, Press Ganey scores for patient or caregiver satisfaction with pain control remained stable, as did the number of after-discharge phone calls received from patients with uncontrolled pain. The organization also improved the opioid education provided to patients. Previously, prescribers reported that they discussed safe opioid use and disposal with patients less than half of the time. After an opioid task force added a required question to prescribers’ ordering workflows, prescribers documented that they provided opioid education to patients 100% of the time.

How They Did It

• Gathered data from Epic and from surveys on current prescribing and education practices
• Reduced default doses providers see when they’re prescribing opioids
• Implemented e-prescribing of controlled substances so patients can refill prescriptions more easily if needed
• Educated patients on proper use and disposal of opioids

Read the full article on EpicShare