Leftover Opioids After Surgical procedure? Mailed Kits Double Fee of Correct Disposal

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WEDNESDAY, Could 11, 2022 (HealthDay Information)

Might giving surgical procedure sufferers ready-to-use mailed disposal kits for unused opioids decrease the chance of abuse of the drugs?

Sure, claims a brand new research that discovered sufferers with unused opioid pain tablets are more likely to get rid of them correctly when given the kits.

There is a threat that leftover opioid medicines could also be misused by the particular person they have been prescribed to or by others. In the event that they’re put within the trash, they may very well be discovered by youngsters or animals, or could hurt the setting. Flushing them down the bathroom additionally poses environmental dangers, the researchers defined.

There are secure disposal websites, corresponding to sure pharmacies, however sufferers usually do not use them as a result of they might be out of the way in which or it takes further effort.

On this research, College of Pennsylvania researchers assessed whether or not mailed secure disposal kits may make a distinction.

The research included 235 sufferers who have been prescribed opioid painkillers after orthopedic or urologic procedures. The standard process was adopted for about half of the sufferers, who have been texted directions to get rid of their unused tablets together with a hyperlink to areas of native secure disposal websites.

The opposite sufferers obtained the identical textual content message however have been mailed disposal kits 4 to seven days after their procedures.

Leftover opioids have been disposed of properly by 60% of those that obtained the disposal package, in contrast with 43% of the sufferers who did not obtain the kits, the investigators discovered.

Some research present that solely about 20% to 30% of U.S. sufferers correctly get rid of unused opioid medicines, so these findings recommend that mailed disposal kits may double or triple that price, based on the authors of the research revealed on-line Could 6 in JAMA Network Open.

The researchers famous that the usage of mailed disposal kits by 125 sufferers within the research resulted within the secure disposal of 480 unused opioid tablets.

“I used to be happy to see that such a easy, ‘snail mail’ method may change conduct and promote self-reported disposal,” stated research lead writer Dr. Anish Agarwal, an assistant professor of emergency medicine and chief wellness officer of the division of emergency medicine at Penn Medication.

“The opioid epidemic clearly continues to be entrance and middle for sufferers, and the issues with opioid use and misuse have gotten an actual a part of the dialog between physicians and sufferers,” Agarwal added in a college information launch. “I believe sufferers are extra conscious of the dangers and penalties of utilizing opioids and storing them of their houses.”

Extra data

For extra on the secure disposal of drugs, go to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

SOURCE: College of Pennsylvania, information launch, Could 6, 2022

By Robert Preidt HealthDay Reporter