Articles: opioid.
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Recent guidelines advise limiting opioid prescriptions for acute pain to a three-day supply; however, scant literature quantifies opioid use patterns after an emergency department (ED) visit. We sought to describe opioid consumption patterns after an ED visit for acute pain. ⋯ In this sample, pill consumption varied by illness category; however, overall, patients were consuming low quantities of pills, and the majority had unused pills 10 days after their ED visit.
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Deaths have increased, and prescription medications are involved in a significant percentage of deaths. Emergency department (ED) changes to managing acute pain and prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) can impact the potential for abuse. ⋯ Initiating a PDMP and instituting an aggressive ALTO program along with EHR-modified process flows have cumulative benefits in decreasing MME prescribed in an acute ED setting.