Postoperative opioid prescribing is not my job: A qualitative analysis of care transitions

Ethical considerations and decision making in opioid prescribing for chronic pain: A case study in rheumatology practice

ABSTRACT

Dilemmas regarding opioid prescribing for chronic pain frequently occur within health care settings. The ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice, as well as the principles of care ethics, can assist in addressing these opioid-related dilemmas. The purpose of this clinical case study is to provide a case study highlighting an opioid prescribing dilemma and then identify opioid-related transition considerations; address ethical questions that nurse practitioners (NPs) may encounter in clinical practice when providing care for individuals living with chronic pain who may need or use a prescribed opioid medication; and draw on the ethical principles and care ethics to provide guidance for NPs who face these challenging issues.

High-risk Prescribing Following Surgery Among Payer Types for Patients on Chronic Opioids

OBJECTIVE

Among those on chronic opioids, to determine whether patients with Medicaid coverage have higher rates of high-risk opioid prescribing following surgery compared with patients on private insurance.

BACKGROUND

Following surgery, patients on chronic opioids experience gaps in transitions of care back to their usual opioid prescriber, but differences by payer type are not well understood. This study aimed to analyze how new high-risk opioid prescribing following surgery compares between Medicaid and private insurance.

METHODS

In this retrospective cohort study through the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative, perioperative data from 70 hospitals across Michigan were linked to prescription drug monitoring program data. Patients with either Medicaid or private insurance were compared. The outcome of interest was new high-risk prescribing, defined as a new occurrence of: overlapping opioids or benzodiazepines, multiple prescribers, high daily doses, or long-acting opioids. Data were analyzed using multivariable regressions and a Cox regression model for return to usual prescriber.

RESULTS

Among 1435 patients, 23.6% (95% CI: 20.3%-26.8%) with Medicaid and 22.7% (95% CI: 19.8%-25.6%) with private insurance experienced new, postoperative high-risk prescribing. New multiple prescribers was the greatest contributing factor for both payer types. Medicaid insurance was not associated with higher odds of high-risk prescribing (odds ratio: 1.067, 95% CI: 0.813-1.402).

CONCLUSIONS

Among patients on chronic opioids, new high-risk prescribing following surgery was high across payer types. This highlights the need for future policies to curb high-risk prescribing patterns, particularly in vulnerable populations that are at risk of greater morbidity and mortality.

Healthcare delivery gaps in pain management within the first 3 months after discharge from inpatient noncardiac surgeries: a scoping review

BACKGROUND

Poor pain control during the postoperative period has negative implications for recovery, and is a critical risk factor for development of persistent postsurgical pain. The aim of this scoping review is to identify gaps in healthcare delivery that patients undergoing inpatient noncardiac surgeries experience in pain management while recovering at home.

METHODS

Searches were conducted by a medical librarian in PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, EBSCO CINAHL, Web of Science, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews for articles published between 2016 and 2022. Inclusion criteria were adults (≥18 yr), English language, inpatient noncardiac surgery, and included at least one gap in care for acute and/or persistent pain management after surgery within the first 3 months of recovery at home. Two reviewers independently screened articles for inclusion and extracted data. Quotations from each article related to gaps in care were synthesised using thematic analysis.

RESULTS

There were 4794 results from databases and grey literature, of which 38 articles met inclusion criteria. From these, 23 gaps were extracted, encompassing all six domains of healthcare delivery (capacity, organisational structure, finances, patients, care processes and infrastructure, and culture). Identified gaps were synthesised into five overarching themes: education (22 studies), provision of continuity of care (21 studies), individualised management (10 studies), support for specific populations (11 studies), and research and knowledge translation (10 studies).

CONCLUSIONS

This scoping review identified health delivery gaps during a critical period in postoperative pain management. These gaps represent potential targets for quality improvement and future research to improve perioperative care and longer-term patient-centred outcomes.

SCOPING REVIEW PROTOCOL

Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/cq5m6/).

Patient risk screening to improve transitions of care in surgical opioid prescribing: a qualitative study of provider perspectives

Introduction

In patients undergoing surgical procedures, transitions in opioid prescribing occur across multiple providers during the months before and after surgery. These transitions often result in high-risk and uncoordinated prescribing practices, especially for surgical patients with prior opioid exposure. However, perspectives of relevant providers about screening and care coordination to address these risks are unknown.

Methods

We conducted qualitative interviews with 24 surgery, primary care, and anesthesia providers in Michigan regarding behaviors and attitudes about screening surgical patients to inform perioperative opioid prescribing in relation to transitions of care. We used an interpretive description framework to topically code interview transcripts and synthesize underlying themes in analytical memos.

Results

Providers believed that coordinated, multidisciplinary approaches to identify patients at risk of poor pain and opioid-related outcomes could improve transitions of care for surgical opioid prescribing. Anesthesia and primary care providers saw value in knowing patients’ preoperative risk related to opioid use, while surgeons’ perceptions varied widely. Across specialties, most providers favored a screening tool if coupled with actionable recommendations, sufficient resources, and facilitated coordination between specialties. Providers identified a lack of pain specialists and a dearth of actionable guidelines to direct interventions for patients at high opioid-related risk as major limitations to the value of patient screening.

Discussion

These findings provide context to address risk from prescription opioids in surgical transitions of care, which should include identifying high-risk patients, implementing a coordinated plan, and emphasizing actionable recommendations.

"Opioids are opioids" - A phenomenographic analyses of physicians' understanding of what makes the initial prescription of opioids become long-term opioid therapy

OBJECTIVES

To explore prescribers' understanding of what makes initial prescription of opioids become long-term opioid therapy (opioids >90 days).

METHODS

A qualitative research design, phenomenography, was used for this study. Fifteen attending physicians working within primary, secondary and tertiary care in Sweden in the fields of general practice, rehab medicine, orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, or obstetrics and gynecology were purposively recruited consecutively until categorical saturation was reached. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. The transcripts were analyzed and categorized by two researchers. A third researcher checked for consistency between the data and the categories. An outcome space was constructed representing the logical relationship between the categories.

RESULTS

The analysis identified six categories: The addictive opioid, The deserving patient, The ignorant prescriber, The lost patient, The compassionate prescriber, and The exposed prescriber. The differences in conceptions among the categories were clarified through three main contributors related to opioid therapy: prescriber's characteristics, patient's characteristics, and the healthcare organization.

CONCLUSIONS

Opioids were understood as being addictive with long-term use promoting a downward spiral of tolerance and withdrawal driving the pain, leading to continued prescription. Long-term opioid therapy could be justified for patients who improved in function, and who were perceived as trustworthy. Inadequate follow-up of patients, poor training in pain management and addiction medicine, personal attitudes and beliefs about opioids, a perceived professional obligation to treat patients with pain, and lack of collegial support, were factors understood to promote clinically unindicated long-term opioid therapy.

Evaluation of a post-discharge pharmacist opioid review following total knee arthroplasty: a pre- and post-intervention cohort study

Background

More than 70% of patients continue to use opioid medications 3-weeks following total knee arthroplasty. Post-discharge pharmacist reviews improve medication management, however it’s effect on opioid usage is not known.

Aim

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of post-discharge pharmacist review on opioid use following a total knee arthroplasty.

Method

A pilot, cohort pre- and post-intervention study was undertaken on patients who had undergone a total knee arthroplasty and were supplied an opioid upon discharge from hospital. During the intervention, patients were contacted via telephone by a pharmacist approximately five days post-discharge to review analgesic usage, provide education and advice and communicate an opioid management plan to their general practitioner. The primary endpoint was the percentage of patients taking opioids 3-weeks post-discharge. Secondary endpoints included: percentage of patients obtaining an opioid refill; patient satisfaction with opioid supply and the pharmacist review.

Results

Pre- and post-intervention, 63 and 44 patients were included, respectively. The percentage of patients taking opioids 3-weeks post-discharge declined from 74.6 to 29.6% (p < 0.001) and the percentage requiring an opioid refill from their general practitioner declined from 71.4 to 36.4% (p  < 0.001). More patients were satisfied with opioid supply during the intervention period (79.5% cf. 47.6%, p = 0.001). Twenty-eight (63.6%) patients could recall the post-discharge pharmacist review, and all were either satisfied or extremely satisfied with the review.

Conclusion

Pharmacist-delivered post-discharge analgesia review reduced the percentage of patients taking opioids 3-weeks post-discharge following a total knee arthroplasty. This intervention has the potential to provide a smoother transition of care for patients supplied with opioids at the time of hospital discharge.

Preoperative Opioid Use and Readmissions Following Surgery

OBJECTIVE

To assess the association between preoperative opioid exposure and readmissions following common surgery.

SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA

Preoperative opioid use is common, but its effect on opioid-related, pain-related, respiratory-related, and all-cause readmissions following surgery is unknown.

METHODS

We analyzed claims data from a 20% national Medicare sample of patients ages ≥ 65 with Medicare Part D claims undergoing surgery between January 1, 2009 and November 30, 2016. We grouped patients by the dose, duration, recency, and continuity of preoperative opioid prescription fills. We used logistic regression to examine the association between prior opioid exposure and 30-day readmissions, adjusted for patient risk factors and procedure type.

RESULTS

Of 373,991 patients, 168,579 (45%) filled a preoperative opioid prescription within 12 months of surgery, ranging from minimal to chronic high use. Preoperative opioid exposure was associated with higher rate of opioid-related readmissions, compared with naive patients [low: aOR=1.63, 95% CI=1.26-2.12; high: aOR=3.70, 95% CI=2.71-5.04]. Preoperative opioid exposure was also associated with higher risk of pain-related readmissions [low: aOR=1.27, 95% CI=1.23-1.32; high: aOR=1.62, 95% CI=1.53-1.71] and respiratory-related readmissions [low: aOR=1.10, 95% CI=1.05-1.16; high: aOR=1.44, 95% CI=1.34-1.55]. Low, moderate, and high chronic preoperative opioid exposures were predictive of all-cause readmissions (low: OR 1.09, 95% CI: 1.06-1.12); high: OR 1.23, 95% CI: 1.18-1.29).

CONCLUSIONS

Higher levels of preoperative opioid exposure are associated with increased risk of readmissions after surgery. These findings emphasize the importance of screening patients for preoperative opioid exposure and creating risk mitigation strategies for patients.

Cross Disciplinary Role Agreement is Needed When Coordinating Long-Term Opioid Prescribing for Cancer: a Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND

Cancer pain is highly prevalent and often managed in primary care or by oncology providers in combination with primary care providers.

OBJECTIVES

To understand interdisciplinary provider experiences coordinating opioid pain management for patients with chronic cancer-related pain in a large integrated healthcare system.

DESIGN

Qualitative research.

PARTICIPANTS

We conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with interdisciplinary providers in two large academically affiliated VA Medical Centers and their associated community-based outpatient clinics. Participants included primary care providers (PCPs) and oncology-based personnel (OBPs).

APPROACH

We deductively identified 94 examples of care coordination for cancer pain in the 20 interviews. We secondarily used an inductive open coding approach and identified themes through constant comparison coming to research team consensus.

RESULTS

Theme 1: PCPs and OBPs generally believed one provider should handle all opioid prescribing for a specific patient, but did not always agree on who that prescriber should be in the context of cancer pain. Theme 2: There are special circumstances where having multiple prescribers is appropriate (e.g., a pain crisis). Theme 3: A collaborative process to opioid cancer pain management would include real-time communication and negotiation between PCPs and oncology around who will handle opioid prescribing. Theme 4: Providers identified multiple barriers in coordinating cancer pain management across disciplines.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings highlight how real-time negotiation about roles in opioid pain management is needed between interdisciplinary clinicians. Lack of cross-disciplinary role agreement may result in delays in clinically appropriate cancer pain management.

'Acute-on-chronic': Emergency Affect and the One-way Staircase of Pharmaceutical Escalation

The opioid epidemic in the United States is often portrayed as leading to a "pendulum swing" from indiscriminate prescribing toward appropriate use. This portrayal imagines rational-ethical physicians trying to resist irrational-manipulative patients and pharmaceutical companies. Drawing on an ethnography of pain management in U.S. hospital and clinic settings, I suggest instead that chronic pain generates a constantly renewed "emergency affect," a mutual experience for providers and patients that polarizes decisions toward either medication escalation or patient abandonment. Understanding this "emergency affect" can help provide a path forward through the opioid epidemic to embrace the discomfort of pain management.