The Excess Opioid Disposal Study

It is hypothesized that:

• By providing pre-operative patient education, a drop-box in a convenient location (the hospital pharmacy near the surgical outpatient clinic) and a reminder phone call prior to the post-operative clinic appointment, an increase in FDA-compliant unused opioid disposal rates to at least 40% will be seen.
• The investigator's guideline for opioid prescribing after operations that require an inpatient admission which the investigator established for general surgical procedures will satisfy the opioid requirements of at least 85% of patients undergoing a variety of operations from differing specialties.
• The utilization of guideline opioid prescribing and FDA-compliant unused opioid disposal will decrease the percentage of patients who are taking opioids at 6 months and 1 year after their surgery to less than 1%.

The primary objective is to determine the effect of pre-operative patient education, a drop-box in the hospital pharmacy and a reminder phone call on the proportion of patients who dispose of unused opioids using a FDA-compliant method.

Secondary objectives include:

• Determine in a prospective study whether our guideline for opioid prescribing after surgery which requires inpatient admission fulfills the opioid requirements of at least 85% of patients undergoing a variety of operations.
• Determining the effect of guideline opioid prescribing and FDA-compliant unused opioid disposal on the proportion of patients who are on opioids 6 months and 1 year after their surgery.

Inclusion criteria

• Having surgery with expected duration of admission of 2 days or more

Exclusion criteria

• Allergies to opioids
• Allergy or contra-indication to short term acetaminophen or ibuprofen
• Chronic opioid use
• History of opioid abuse