Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40481582›Full record

ArticleAddiction science & clinical practice2025

Evaluation of a hospital-based opioid stewardship program on high-risk opioid prescribing in a Canadian setting: an interrupted time series analysis.

Lianping Ti, Tamara Mihic, Arielle Beauchesne, Cameron Grant, Ingrid Frank, Nooreen Haji, Michael Legal, Stephen Shalansky, Seonaid Nolan

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Addiction science & clinical practice, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Lianping TiBritish Columbia Centre on Substance Use, 400-1045 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 2A9, Canada. bccsu-lt@bccsu.ubc.ca.
Tamara MihicBritish Columbia Centre on Substance Use, 400-1045 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 2A9, Canada.
Arielle BeauchesnePharmacy Department, Providence Health Care, 1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 1Y6, Canada.
Cameron GrantBritish Columbia Centre on Substance Use, 400-1045 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 2A9, Canada.
Ingrid FrankFaculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2405 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 2A1, Canada.
Nooreen HajiFaculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2405 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 2A1, Canada.
Michael LegalFaculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2405 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 2A1, Canada.
Stephen ShalanskyFaculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2405 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 2A1, Canada.
Seonaid NolanBritish Columbia Centre on Substance Use, 400-1045 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 2A9, Canada.

Funding

Mentoring the next generation of addiction clinician scientists while responding to the opioid epidemicR25DA037756 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA · PI FAIRBAIRN, NADIA · 2014 to 2023
$3.6M
NIDA NIH HHS R25 DA037756Vancouver Foundation FOI18-0055
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundHigh-risk opioid prescribing (e.g., high daily dose opioids, concurrent opioid-sedatives) is prevalent in hospitals and linked to adverse outcomes. Opioid stewardship programs (OSP) have the potential to reduce high-risk opioid prescribing through audit-and-feedback recommendations.

methodsWe evaluated an audit-and-feedback based OSP implemented in January 2020 at a Vancouver, Canada tertiary care hospital using interrupted time series analysis. An electronic health record (EHR) system with computerized provider order entry (CPOE) was simultaneously operationalized. The main outcome was: any high-risk opioid prescribing (based on 10 evidence-based indicators), including high daily dose of morphine milligram equivalent (MME) prescribing (> 90MME), long opioid prescription duration (> 5 days post-admission), and concurrent opioid-sedative prescribing.

resultsBetween January 2018 and March 2022, 5,477 active opioid patient encounters were included. While no significant change occurred in overall high-risk opioid prescribing post-OSP (p > 0.05), a significant reduction was seen in the level of high daily dose of MME prescriptions (estimate: -0.044; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.082, -0.006). Conversely, the trend in long opioid duration increased (estimate: 0.006; 95%CI: 0.000, 0.011), likely due to the removal of automatic stop dates with the implementation of the EHR with CPOE. Post-OSP intervention, we initially saw an acute increase in concurrent opioid-sedative prescriptions (estimate: 0.013; 95%CI: 0.005, 0.020). A benzodiazepine ordering intervention implemented in May 2021 reversed this trend, reducing both the level (estimate: 0.874; 95%CI: 0.374, 1.375) and slope (estimate: -0.022, 95%CI: -0.034, -0.011) of concurrent prescriptions.

conclusionThe implementation of a new EHR concordant with that of the OSP may have impacted our study's results. While our research suggests the OSP reduced high-dose opioid prescribing, other indicators impacted by the EHR system did not benefit as highly from the OSP. Nevertheless, the OSP proved able to rapidly respond to unintended consequences by introducing interventions to reduce concurrent opioid and sedative prescribing.

Indexed as

Analgesics, OpioidDrug PrescriptionsPractice Patterns, Physicians'AdultCanadaElectronic Health RecordsFemaleHumansInterrupted Time Series AnalysisMaleMiddle AgedTertiary Care CentersAnalgesics, OpioidEvaluationHigh-risk prescribingHospitalOpioid stewardship program

Identifiers

PMID40481582
PMCPMC12143091

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.