Implementation of a Program for Safe Medication Disposal in a Perioperative Unit: A Response to the Opioid Crisis

Opioids are dispensed regularly to manage postoperative pain in patients undergoing surgery in hospitals and same day surgery centers. There has been a rise in the number of opioid misuse and overdoses nationally, with Ohio ranked first in the nation for drug overdose deaths in 2014 and Cuyahoga County leading the state with 666 overdose deaths in 2016(ref) As health care providers, it is our responsibility to respond to this epidemic. One measure to address this is to reduce the number of unused prescription opioids that remain in patients' possession when they no longer need them. (ref) Doing so will maximize safety by decreasing the availability of unused opioids. The purpose of this study is to determine if a product that deactivates opioids will be used as designed after oral opioid medication is no longer needed. The design of this study is a quality initiative project using a randomized control design. The setting is a surgery center in a suburban hospital in Cuyahoga County. The population is all adult surgery center patients that are prescribed opioids postoperatively who are discharged the same day. In addition to usual care, a medication disposal bag with instructions on how to use will be given to the patient prior to discharge. The patient will be called 30-45 days post discharge. The data will be collected on a case report form that will include information about disposal and information obtained from the patients medical record.