Improving Care of Children and Young Adults after ACL Surgery: Implementation of Best Practice

Opioid overprescribing after surgery and lack of knowledge about proper disposal of excess opioids may contribute to opioid misuse and overdose through medication availability. A recent study of adolescents and young adults (AYA) following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction (Taylor, Killilea, Dugan-Frost,& Solodiuk, 2017) reported that patients (N=100) used only 36% of prescribed oxycodone and 30 tablets of 5mg oxycodone would be adequate for most. Alarmingly, 65% of patients/families reported not knowing what to do with the remaining oxycodone tablets.
Source: Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing - Category: Nursing Authors: Tags: ASPAN National Conference Abstract Source Type: research