Moderator: Carla S. Saunders, DNP, APRN, NNP-BC, Advance Practice Coordinator, Pediatrix Medical Group, Neonatal Nurse Practitioner, East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, and Member, National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit Advisory Board

CE Certified By: AMA,AAFP,ACPE,ADA,ANCC

A recent study found 5% to 6% of patients who did not use opioids prior to surgery continued to fill prescriptions for opioids long after what would be considered normal surgical recovery. This session will feature a groundbreaking, national opioid safety pilot with hospitals to make care safer and reduce patient harm from opioid misuse, dependence and addiction. Presenters will explain the program and share challenges and best practices gleaned from the pilot and highlight key results.

The American Society of Anesthesiologists and Premier, Inc., collaborated to launch the pilot through Premier’s Hospital Improvement Innovation Network, which is part of the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services Partnership for Patients program. The effort has enlisted around 30 hospitals and is focused on measurably improving post-operative opioid pain management. The pilot’s focus is on adult patients undergoing elective hip and knee arthroplasty and colectomy surgical procedures. Participants have worked to redesign their existing best practices/workflows with new pain management strategies in effort to ensure safer patient care when using opioid medications. This includes partnering with patients and families on pain management expectations and education on the safe use, storage and disposal of opioids, and prevention of opioid misuse and abuse post discharge. Clinicians at participating hospitals were educated on appropriate opioid screening, prescribing, dispensing and administration.

UPON COMPLETION OF THIS COURSE, PARTICIPANTS WILL BE ABLE TO:
- Describe a unique program geared toward hospitals and health systems to decrease opioid use in the post-surgical setting for patients undergoing common surgeries.
- Summarize the preliminary findings related to the pilot program and what this means to hospitals and the overall impact on the national opioid epidemic.
- Explain the systematic planning, data collection, use of standardized processes/outcomes, harm and cost avoidance measures, peer-to-peer learning, and continuous monitoring, evaluation and refinement of implemented strategies that drove the results of this program.