Impact of educational intervention on opioid prescribing - Version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
What is the impact of an educational intervention on opioid prescribing at an acute NHS Trust.
IRAS ID
287540
Contact name
Kirstie Anderson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 30 days
Research summary
What is the impact of an educational intervention on opioid prescribing at an acute NHS Trust.
Acute pain relief is often started appropriately in hospital but without a clear stop date for primary care prescribers on discharge. Additionally, a hospital admission offers an opportunity to safely adjust opioids, improve patient safety and decrease risk of readmission, accidental overdose and improve operative outcomes. This requires education and behaviour change. Opioids continue to be used for chronic, non-cancer pain despite high quality evidence for harm and lack of superiority to safer alternatives. Barriers to alternative prescribing or deprescribing remain due to concerns about patient distress, withdrawal side effects and a lack of knowledge of deprescribing protocols. This is particularly relevant to a ward setting where it is often the most junior prescribers who are writing the discharge prescriptions and letters. This project aims to assess the impact of an educational intervention on opioid prescribing across four acute surgical and medical wards in Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The educational intervention will include a patient information tool to support prescribers, detailing side effects and benefits of opioids. A multi-professional, online, educational resource highlighting risk of harm from prolonged / high dose opioids and explaining safe deprescribing will be created to improve prescribing. There will then be an evaluation of subsequent behaviour change and impact on opioid prescribing over time. Primary outcomes will be the dose of opioids on discharge, and at 3 months within primary care. Secondary outcomes will be the data analytics from the intervention, knowledge, attitudes and confidence around prescribing from health professionals, as well as the information regarding opioids provided on the discharge letter to GPs.REC name
South Central - Oxford B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/SC/0102
Date of REC Opinion
12 Apr 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion