Association between electronic medical record implementation of default opioid prescription quantities and prescribing behavior in two emergency departments.

Delgado MK, Shofer FS, Patel MS, et al. J Gen Intern Med. 2018 Jan 16; [Epub ahead of print].

To reduce opioid risk, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that frontline providers minimize the number of opioid tablets they prescribe for acute pain. This pre–post study examined the effect of implementing a 10-tablet default prescription in the electronic medical record in two urban emergency departments. The intervention changed prescribing habits but did not reduce the already low overall number of tablets prescribed. Two PSNet perspectives explore the intersection of patient safety and the opioid epidemic.

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