Comparison of Inpatient Narcotics Use to Outpatient Prescription Narcotics Post-operatively

Managing pain in postoperative patients presents challenges in striking a balance between achieving adequate pain control and over-prescribing opioids that have the potential to contribute to the opioid epidemic. There are no clear guidelines informing postoperative opioid prescribing in obstetrics and gynecology. A recent study by As-Sanie et al. demonstrated that gynecologists at a large academic medical center prescribe twice the amount of opioids than the average patient uses after hysterectomy.1 Similarly, a study completed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center showed that obstetricians were overprescribing narcotics to patients after cesarean deliveries.2

In addition to rates of opioid prescribing, other factors affect postoperative opioid consumption, including individual patient measures of anxiety, depression, and self-reported pain scores prior to surgery. Preoperative Fibromyalgia symptom scores, STAIT state anxiety scores and NRS pain expectations are independent predictors for morphine consumption following hysterectomy.

There is a pressing need to better understand the factors that impact opioid use in women who undergo gynecologic surgery in order to mitigate the over-use of opioids for pain control upon discharge from the hospital.

Aims:

1. Understand the factors that impact opioid use for pain management in gynecologic surgery patients after discharge.