A prospective observational study of pediatric opioid prescribing at postoperative discharge: how much is actually used?

ConclusionThese findings confirm overprescribing of opioids to pediatric surgical patients. Families tend not to return opioids that exceed post-discharge analgesic requirements at home and many of the reported disposal methods are unsafe. We recommend future studies focus on optimizing opioid prescriptions to meet, but not excessively surpass, home pain management requirements, and to encourage safe opioid disposal/return methods.Trial registrationwww.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03562013); registered 7 June, 2018.
Source: Canadian Journal of Anesthesia - Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: research