Unused Opioid Pills After Outpatient Shoulder Surgeries Given Current Perioperative Prescribing Habits

The past few decades have seen an alarming rise in opioid use in the United States, and the negative consequences from diversion of opioids for nontherapeutic use are dramatically increasing. A significant number of orthopaedic patients are at risk for repercussions from both therapeutic and nontherapeutic opioid use. Orthopaedic surgeons are the third highest prescribers of opioid prescriptions among physicians in the United States. Thus, it is important for orthopaedic surgeons to understand the detrimental effects of opioid abuse on individuals and society and to recognize objective measures to identify patients at risk for nontherapeutic opioid use. These measures include elements of the patient history, recognition of aberrant behaviors, prescription drug monitoring programs, and opioid risk-assessment tools.

Prescription narcotic abuse is a significant social problem. Surplus medication following surgery is 1 source of prescription diversion. We assessed prescribing practices, consumption and disposal of prescribed narcotics after urological surgery.

After elective outpatient upper extremity surgery, patients' need for opioid analgesic medication may be considerably less than typically dispensed. Our goal for this study was to evaluate pain control and quantify the amount of leftover pain medication.