Opiate-reduction protocol for common outpatient spinal procedures: a long-term feasibility study and single-center experience

CONCLUSIONS: A standardized discharge protocol for postoperative outpatient spinal procedures can lead to long-term reductions in opioid discharge quantity, without compromising patient safety or increasing the utilization of hospital resources through readmissions, refill requests, or clinic phone calls. This study provides an example of a feasible and effective discharge prescription regimen that may be generalizable to common outpatient neurosurgical procedures with long-term evidence that a small intervention can lead to ongoing reduced quantities of postoperative opioids at the time of discharge.PMID:38669713 | DOI:10.3171/2024.1.JNS232515
Source: Journal of Neurosurgery - Category: Neurosurgery Authors: Source Type: research