The effectiveness of opioid stewardship interventions in healthcare: A Making Healthcare Safer rapid review

Abstract

Objective

Opioid stewardship interventions promote appropriate use of opioids. We synthesized evidence from recent studies on the effectiveness of opioid stewardship interventions in United States healthcare settings on opioid prescribing and clinical outcomes.

Methods

We followed the Evidence-based Practice Center Program's rapid review processes. We searched PubMed and Cochrane for original studies meeting specified inclusion criteria from January 2016 (correlating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Pain Guidelines) to April 2023, supplemented by gray literature searches.

Findings

Our search identified 13 randomized controlled trials and 6 nonrandomized studies. Randomized controlled trials addressed interventions involving multiple components (typically combining prescriber education, care management, and facilitated access to resources), clinical decision support (CDS) or electronic health records (EHR), and patient education and engagement, mainly in ambulatory chronic pain. Multicomponent interventions and opioid stewardship practices involving CDS or EHR were associated with decreased opioid prescribing or reduced doses and no increases in pain, emergency department visits, or hospitalizations (low strength of evidence for all outcomes). Patient engagement and education interventions had mixed results for opioid prescribing outcomes (insufficient strength of evidence) and no increases in pain, emergency department visits, or hospitalizations (low strength of evidence).

Conclusions

Selected opioid stewardship interventions may be effective for reducing opioid prescribing without adversely affecting clinical outcomes. Interventions to reduce opioid prescribing should monitor unintended consequences and include access to nonpharmacological pain management resources with patient education and engagement.