As Canada struggles with an opioid crisis, Grand River Hospital (GRH) of Kitchener has taken action to reduce the amount of prescription opioids ending up in our community.
After completing a benchmark analysis of our appendectomy & hernia repair procedures, we discovered over-prescribing may be of concern. We shared a power point presentation of our data and made available the Michigan-OPEN (Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network) resource to all our general surgeons. All surgeons were extremely interested in this project, so we followed the procedure specific recommendations put forth by this resource.
GRH was able to reduce the number of pills prescribed for these procedures from 30 to 20 pills. Within the first yearly quarter, we reduced our opioid prescribing by 33%.
We have also initiated patient education on safe disposal and alternative non-opioid methods for pain control. Presently, we are monitoring the impact on patients by incorporating a pain control satisfaction survey.
Challenged by only having one resource for our surgeons, we have now introduced ISQIC (Illinois Surgical Quality Improvement Collaborative), which also provides procedure specific opioid recommendations. Learn more about the ISQIC initiative here.
Moving forward, we would like to promote our campaign, successes and include the entire surgical program to be involved. Connect with us to learn more about our work to improve post-surgical opioid prescribing.
Thank you!
Dr. Monica Torres
National Surigcal Quality Improvement Program-Surgeon Champion
Robinne Hauck
Interim Sr. Director of Surgery, ICU, Clinical Practice & Chief Nursing Executive
Julianne Janelle, RN, BScN
National Surigcal Quality Improvement Program-Surgical Clinical Reviewer