How Many Opioid Pills Do You Need After Surgery? – The Wall Street Journal

Read article - Quotes Richard Barth, professor of surgery, about how he and his colleagues came up with guidelines for prescribing opioids for five different surgical procedures, and after educating residents, nurses and other physicians on the guidelines, saw opioid prescriptions dropped by 53 percent four months later. "I'm just trying to do my part as a physician to responsibly prescribe opioids," says Barth. "I think if you do that, then fewer people are going to become longtime opioid users. It's those people that go back to their family practitioners and keep demanding more opioids."