Penn Medicine Professor: Level of Needed Opioid Use After a Surgery Can Be Determined by ‘A Patient’s Personal Characteristics’
Patient Daily
From Patient Daily:
Anish Agarwal, MD, deputy director of the Penn Medicine Center for Insights to Outcomes and Kit Delgado, MD, director of the Penn Medicine Nudge have conducted research with their colleagues seeking solutions to the recirculation and abuse of unused opioids. One such study pointed out the positive effects of patient feedback and personal characteristics on optimal dosage, according to a report from Penn Medicine.
Agarwal and Delgado used data collected through a text message survey to detect a correlation between personal characteristics and needed opioid dose. Most patients tested had undergone orthopedic and neurosurgery procedures. Overall, patients who hadn’t taken opioids before required less than 5 of the opioid tablets, less than those who had previously taken them according to a report from Penn Medicine.