The Role of Acute Care Prescribing in the Opioid Epidemic

Dr. Brummett will discuss how prescribing after surgery has directly impacted the opioid epidemic in the US and Canada and how the same factors that increased prescribing and morbidity is currently spreading around the world due to changes in opioid prescribing and postoperative care patterns. He will show that while increased opioid prescribing after surgery does not improve pain or satisfaction, it is associated with increased new chronic use, morbidity and cost of care.