Opioid Prescribing Patterns and Patient Satisfaction with Care

Abstract

We sought to examine the relationship between opioid prescribing patterns and patient reported satisfaction with care. Opioid prescribing was characterized in terms of morphine equivalent daily dosing (MEDD), total morphine equivalent dosing (TMED), and total number of opioid prescriptions. A total of 1,666 opioid prescriptions were written for a TMED of 379,660 and a median MEDD of 204 (interquartile range [IQR] 195-269) from 2017-2019. Two hundred and forty-four patient satisfaction surveys were obtained for review and comparison. During the study period, 2,358 cases were performed, and no statistically significant differences were found with respect to case distribution among orthopaedic surgeons at our institution. High patient satisfaction, defined as achieving a 100 on a 0-to-100 scale, was found to have no association with MEDD (odds ratio = 0.968; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.925-1.014), TMED (odds ratio = 1.00; 95% CI, 1.00-1.01), or total number of opioid prescriptions (odds ratio = 1.003; 95% CI, 0.905-1.112). (Journal of Surgical Orthopaedic Advances 30(2):085-089, 2021).