Johns Hopkins panel develops opioid prescribing guidelines for 20 surgical procedures

Editor's Note

Led by Martin A. Makary, MD, MPH, a Johns Hopkins panel of experts developed the nation’s first set of opioid prescribing guidelines for 20 common surgical procedures in 8 surgical specialties.

The guidelines are based on the premise that opioid prescribing should be based on the surgical procedure rather than a blanket approach.

The minimum number of opioid tablets recommended was zero. The maximum number of tablets varied by procedure:

• zero for 3 procedures
• 1 to 15 for 11 procedures
• 16 to 20 for 6 procedures.

Procedure specific opioid prescribing recommendations may help provide guidance for clinicians who are currently overprescribing, the authors say.