Evaluation of a Safer Opioid Prescribing Protocol (SOPP) for Patients Being Discharged From a Trauma Service.

Patients were not randomized to SOPP, so differences between sites or cohorts could reflect patient characteristics or local practice rather than the protocol. The evaluation used EHR documentation and prescribing records, not patient-reported pain, function, misuse, addiction, or overdose outcomes. Changes in state opioid prescribing guidance during the study period could have influenced prescribing independently of SOPP. The BPA relied on readily available EHR fields, so some opioid overdose risk factors may have been missed or documented elsewhere in the record. Naloxone discussions and refusals may not have been documented, and low documented education could reflect missing teaching or poor charting. The study used a single implementation site and a single comparison site, so the findings may not generalize to other trauma services.

Do not conclude that SOPP reduced opioid misuse or overdose. The study reported changes in EHR alerts, naloxone prescribing, opioid safety education documentation, and discharge prescriptions, not patient misuse, overdose, pain, or function outcomes.