Uses and abuses – Opioid Safety Program

By Kristin Jenkins, President, DFWHC Foundation

On November 12, the DFW Hospital Council Foundation hosted the educational seminar “Opioid Safety.” During the presentation, team members of the Foundation shared adverse drug event information for the region based on data from its Information and Quality Services Center. We were pleased with the attendance as every health system in North Texas had representatives at the meeting.

In the DFW area in 2014, the average incidence of adverse drug events was 2.04 percent from small and large bowel procedures, and knee and hip replacements. This amounted to 464 cases of patient harm out of 22,755 encounters. The length of stay for these adverse drug event cases was 6.97 days longer than those without. This amounted to 3,234 excess days of care.

As one can tell from these numbers, adverse drug events are dangerous and expensive. Oftentimes there is an overuse of opioid pain medications in these procedural admissions. During the conference, nursing and physician experts presented solutions to the issues that contribute to these events. The solutions were practical and affordable.

Over the coming year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Joint Commission and the mainstream press are focusing on opioid errors and abuse within our hospitals and community. Join us in adopting best practices to decrease such uses and abuses. These drugs are meant to relieve pain, but can be dangerously “over-prescribed” and ingested.

If you would like to participate in our Opioid Safety Program, please reach out to our Director of Patient Safety and Quality, Patti Taylor, at ptaylor@dfwhcfoundation.org. She can also provide you with information to facilitate your own quality improvement efforts. Thank you for working with us to improve our community’s health.