2025 Southeastern Residency Conference

Author names: Emily Brackett, Emily Rudisell, Carrie Ellison, DeVon Suber, Ismaeel Yunusa 
 
Background: Pain-related hospital admissions are prevalent in the United States, and in 2016, the CDC released guidelines to assist clinicians with opioid prescribing at discharge. Patients aged ≥ 65 years are particularly vulnerable to inadequate pain control and adverse effects, including dizziness, drowsiness, and constipation. The presence of non-opioid alternatives on the BEERs list further complicates pain management. The CDC recommends the lowest effective opioid dose, with reassessment for doses >50 morphine milliequivalents per day. Prisma Health lacks a discharge opioid protocol, prompting this study to evaluate prescribing patterns in opioid-naïve geriatric patients. 
 
Methods: This retrospective cohort study included patients aged ≥65 years admitted to Prisma Health Richland between January 1, 2024, and August 1, 2024. Eligibility required inpatient admission and an inpatient order for at least 1 opioid for ≥24 hours. The primary objective was to quantify morphine milliequivalents (MMEs) prescribed at discharge. Secondary objectives included comparing inpatient opioid use with discharge regimens, identifying overdose risk factors based on high-risk medications and conditions, evaluating prescribing patterns by provider group, assessing length of therapy, 30-day readmission for opioid adverse reactions, as well as the impact of discharge disposition on MMEs. Statistical analysis will involve one-sample t-tests, Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, paired t-tests, chi-square, and Fisher’s exact tests. 
 
Results: In progress 
 
Conclusion: In progress