Preventing excess narcotic prescriptions in MIS urologic oncology discharges (PENN): A prospective cohort quality improvement initiative.

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 6502-6502
Author(s):  
Ruchika Talwar ◽  
Leilei Xia ◽  
Juan Serna ◽  
Daniel Lee ◽  
Justin Ziemba ◽  
...  

6502 Background: In the setting of the national opioid crisis, there is increasing interest in non-narcotic pain strategies, particularly for oncology patients. Robotic urologic surgeries for cancer have been shown to result in less pain than open approaches. We hypothesized that the majority of these patients could be safely discharged with adequate analgesia without opioids. Methods: This prospective cohort study aimed to reduce narcotics prescribed at discharge after robotic radical prostatectomy (RARP), robotic radical nephrectomy (RARN) and robotic partial nephrectomy (RAPN). Prior to 9/2018, 100% of patients were discharged on varying amounts of oxycodone (range: 75-337.5 oral morphine milligram equivalents [MME]). We implemented a standard non-opioid analgesia pathway with escalation options across the continuum of care. Patients received gabapentin 300 mg and acetaminophen 975 mg once PO pre-operatively, as well as gabapentin 300 mg every 8 hours, acetaminophen 975 mg every 8 hours PO, and ketorolac 15 mg every 6 hours IV post-operatively. If complaining of persistent pain despite the standing regimen, patients were given 50 mg or 100 mg of tramadol every 6 hours as needed for pain level 5-7 or 8-10 on the visual analog scale, respectively. If requiring further escalation, patients were given 5 or 10 mg of oxycodone every 6 hours as needed on the aforementioned scale. Regardless of escalation status, all patients were discharged on the standing non-narcotic protocol. If escalated, ten pills of tramadol 50 mg or oxycodone 5 mg were prescribed accordingly. Results: Our cohort (n = 170) consisted of patients undergoing RARP (n = 87), RARN (n = 25), RAPN (n = 58) between 9/1/2018-1/9/2019. Overall, 67.7% were discharged without opioids, 24.4% with ten pills of tramadol 50 mg (50 MME) and 8.2% with ten pills of oxycodone 5 mg (75 MME). On multivariate analysis, older age (OR: 0.961, 95% CI: 0.923-0.995, p = 0.026) was associated with lower odds of needing opioids at discharge. There was no difference in postoperative telephone encounters between those discharged with or without opioids. Conclusions: The majority of robotic surgery patients do not require opioids upon discharge. An escalation protocol allows for a patient centered approach to reduce narcotic prescribing while still addressing cancer and surgical pain.

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruchika Talwar ◽  
Leilei Xia ◽  
Juan Serna ◽  
James Ding ◽  
Daniel J. Lee ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Pitts ◽  
Joshua Borus ◽  
Adrianne Goncalves ◽  
Holly Gooding

Abstract Background Direct clinical observation is an essential component of medical trainee assessment, particularly in the era of milestone-based competencies. However, the adolescent patient's perspective on this practice is missing from the literature. Quality health care is patient centered, yet we did not know if our educational practices align with this clinical goal. Objective We sought to better understand our adolescent/young adult patients' perspectives of the direct observation of our medical trainees in the outpatient clinical setting. Methods As a quality improvement initiative, we surveyed adolescent/young adult patients, medical trainees, and physician observers in our outpatient clinical practice regarding their experience following a direct observation encounter. We performed descriptive analyses of the data. Results During a 1-year period, responses were received from 23 adolescent/young adult patients, 8 family members, 14 trainees, and 6 faculty observers. Nearly all adolescent/young adult patients (n = 22) and all surveyed family members (n = 8) expressed comfort with direct observation, and all respondents felt the care they received was the same or better. All patient/family respondents preferred direct observation to the idea of remote observation, and most, but not all, trainees and faculty observers expressed similar opinions. Conclusions Adolescent/young adult patients and their family members found direct observation of their trainee providers to be comfortable and beneficial. Despite adolescent and young adults' facility and comfort with modern technologies, there was an expressed preference for direct versus remote observation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S448-S448
Author(s):  
Gowrishankar Gnanasekaran ◽  
Eduardo Mireles-Cabodevila

Abstract Programs like orthogeriatrics, geriatric cardiology have shown to improve outcomes in hospitalized geriatric patients. Our Geriatrics MICU Co-management program is a quality improvement initiative that instigates a partnership approach with critical care medicine in integrating geriatric assessments and build foundation for interdisciplinary care of critically ill patients. MICU (Medical Intensive Care Unit) protocols do not have standard geriatrics assessments integrated in clinical care. An electronic dash-board identifies high risk elderly (HRE) patients admitted at a MICU in a large teaching hospital in Northeast Ohio based on nursing specific screening triggers. A geriatrics co-management team engages in a comprehensive geriatric assessments and care transition. 386 patient were identified using HRE screening triggers in a period of 100 days. 33 % (n=131) were generated as consults for co-management. A pilot review on 131 HRE patients was conducted. 70% (n=93) patients had incident frailty. 93% (n=87) of patients with frailty were diagnosed with incident delirium. 56% (n=74) of patients were newly diagnosed with cognitive impairment. 56 % (N=74) of patients had a medication reduction. An average of 1.23 medication was changed. 85% (n =112) of patients had a warm hand off to the next level of provider on discharge. 90% (n=119) of patients notified improved self-management skills and better understanding of discharge process. The Geri-MICU program demonstrates a patient -centered approach in integrating geriatric assessments for critically ill patients and build foundation of a geriatrics-critical care task force. The program would be a mile stone in optimizing elderly care in critical care units.


2016 ◽  
Vol 115 (5) ◽  
pp. 578-586.e1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avinash S. Bidra ◽  
Kimberly Farrell ◽  
David Burnham ◽  
Ajay Dhingra ◽  
Thomas D. Taylor ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam L. Green ◽  
Joanna Yi ◽  
Natalie Bezler ◽  
Yana Pikman ◽  
Venée N. Tubman ◽  
...  

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