Implementing a Discharge Opioid Bundle in Adult Trauma Patients Decreases the Amount of Opioids Prescribed at Discharge

Abstract

Background Opioids remain the mainstay treatment of acute pain caused by trauma. The lack of evidence driven prescribing creates a challenging situation for providers. We hypothesized that the implementation of a trauma discharge opioid bundle (TDOB) would decrease the total morphine milligram equivalents (MME) prescribed at discharge while maintaining pain control. Methods This was a pre-post study of adult trauma patients before and after implementation of a TDOB to guide the prescription of opioids and discharge prescription education in patients discharged from a level one trauma center. The pre-group and post-group, included consecutively discharged patients from September through November in 2018 and 2019. The primary outcome was the total MME prescribed at discharge. Results A total of 377 patients met inclusion criteria. One hundred and fifty-one patients were included in the pre-group and 226 in the post-group. The total MME prescribed at discharge (225 ± [150-300] pre vs 200 ± [100-225] post, P = < .001) and maximum MME/day (45 ± [30-45] vs 30 ± [20-45], P = .004) were significantly less in the post-group. Incidence of outpatient refills within fourteen days were similar. More non-opioid pain adjuncts were prescribed post-intervention and discharge pain education was provided more frequently. Conclusion The implementation of a TDOB significantly reduced the MME prescribed at discharge without increasing the number of opioid refills.

The effect of discharge care plans on statin prescription rates

“…This project aimed to evaluate the impact of discharge care bundles on provider prescription rates of statins. One study showed how a discharge opioid bundle significantly decreased unnecessary opioid prescribing at discharge while increasing the use of nonopioid adjunct pain medications (Krebsbach et al, 2022). Vani et al (2022) found that BPAs in the EHR to alert providers to prescribe guideline-directed medical therapy on hospital discharge in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease patients resulted in a 4.0% increase in statin use and a 3.1% in antithrombotic use.…”