Opioid stewardship

Last month, the research round-up provided you with an overview of articles on prescribing of proton pump inhibitors. This month we will be reviewing articles on opioid stewardship. The first article looks at the barriers and promotors of implementing an opioid stewardship programme. The second reviews the clinician's perspective of an opioid stewardship programme in the areas of acute pain management. Finally, we will examine an appraisal of the implementation of an opioid stewardship programme in the primary care setting.

This article, published in Global Implementation Research and Applications, sought to uncover the perceived barriers and promoters of implementing a perioperative opioid stewardship programme in three health services in Melbourne, Australia. The three sites were chosen as they shared electronic medical records and had introduced a perioperative opioid stewardship programme at the same time.

‘The introduction of an opioid stewardship programme was an essential mechanism for harnessing the benefits of adequate analgesia and mitigating harm in the perioperative period’