Addressing the Opioid Crisis: 2018 Pediatric Surgery Practice Gap #1
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Key Takeaways
- Reduce total opioid prescriptions—studies show opioids unnecessary for minor procedures like I&D or breast biopsies.
- Non-opioid analgesics (acetaminophen plus NSAIDs) are equally effective as narcotics in pediatric pain management.
- Incorporate non-pharmacological pain strategies: heat, comfort measures, meditation, and deep breathing techniques.
- Educate families on proper disposal of unused opioids to prevent diversion and reduce community opioid exposure.
- Reflect on personal practice gaps and contribute findings to APSA's Practice Development Committee at think@apsa.org.
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Transcript
Join us as we continue our review of the top 10 practice gaps of 2018. First presented at last year's update course by APsa's practice development committee. Alex, what was number one? So, the most important one, and this is one that also was very popular at the Appsa conference this year, is the opioid crisis. Uh, but pretty much the recommendations are reduce the total amount of opioids prescribed. And there's studies, uh, out there that show that you don't need to be giving opioids for incision and drainages, or for breast biopsies. Second recommendation is to use non opioid analgesics. They work really well in kids and kids are really comfortable, uh, taking these. Tylenol plus Nsets or like Motrin are equally as effective as narcotics. Third recommendation was to use non-pharmacological approaches. There's a lot of either heat or warmth, there are other comfort measures that significantly reduce pain, uh, including meditation, deep breathing. And the fourth recommendation is to educate patients on the disposal of these unused drugs because the drugs are staying at home and being found either by kids or other family members are, and they're continuing to contribute to the opioid, uh, epidemic in the country. I have to go back and review that to see, uh, if there's something I can start doing as well. I am really excited for the upcoming course to see what the 10 new, uh, practice gaps are, but Ray, what, what should we be doing with this now? We we hear all these practice gaps. What can pediatric surgeons do around the world to help contribute to these? So, I think reflection on your own knowledge gaps, they're ones that you see. If you find them, you can shoot an email over to think@apsa.org, um, and contribute to the PDC's effort. This is the way it's going to happen. We've got to get worldwide participation in this. This whole effort of education and identifying these gaps is huge and I think we're going to see a a change drastically by doing this. So, thank you guys. This is awesome. Thank you for reviewing those and I'm excited for the 2019 update course. It's on August 2nd. We hope everyone's there and we'll do this again next year.