A
sk surgeons and anesthesia providers how they manage
post-operative pain, and ambivalence regarding opioids
is likely to quickly become apparent. Our recent survey
shines a bright light on that ambivalence. The respons-
es we got form a nearly perfect bell curve, with the vast majority
somewhere in the middle, seemingly searching for the sweet spot that
perfectly balances the benefits of opioids with their drawbacks.
To gauge providers' attitudes, we gave them 4 choices. At one
extreme were a defiant 9% who chose, "They're still the best way to
manage pain, and when called for, they're my first choice." At the
other extreme were 9% who said they consider using opioids "only as
a last resort."
And in between were the more than 80% combined who acknowl-
edged concerns, but who won't relegate opioids to "last resort" status —
43% who said they're "open to reducing opioid use, but don't hesitate to
use opioids when patients face real pain," and 39% who said they're
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 6 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 1 1 7
Post-op
Pain
in
2016
Our reader survey shows
continued migration from
opioids, toward multimodal.
Jim Burger
Associate Editor
