Are Opioids Effective For Patients After Surgery?

For decades, opioids have prescribed to patients for post surgical medication. In a press release from Michigan Medicine, patients who do not receive opioid pain medications had “effective pain control with equivalent short-term outcomes and patient satisfaction.” Eliminating opioids out of the recovery process could eliminate the risk of somebody becoming dependent on the medicine. The Pharmacy Times states, “treating postsurgical pain with medications such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen did not result in higher pain levels or more serious issues during recovery and did not lower patients’ satisfaction with their care, according to the results from a study of more than 22,000 patients who had 1 of 7 common operations at 70 hospitals.”

A survey was produced for each patient to take post surgery, and the results of the survey showed that there was little to no difference between opioids and ibuprofen. Does this mean that the medical industry will start to stray away from opioids as a remedy for pain treatment post surgery? It very well might, especially considering that most opioids are addictive, and doctors and pharmacists could reduce the chance of a patient becoming addicted to their medication.

The survey showed that, “Patients who received non-opioid prescriptions were actually more likely to report having no pain in the first week after surgery than those who received opioids (12% and 7%, respectively). The non-opioid patients were also more likely to say that they had the best possible quality of life after surgery (66% and 63%, respectively)” (Pharmacy Times).

This could be a turning point in surgical recoveries, and a huge step towards a safer recovery, eliminating the risk of addiction.