Wide Variation and Excessive Dosage of Opioid Prescriptions for Common General Surgical Procedures

To examine opioid prescribing patterns after general surgery procedures and to estimate an ideal number of pills to prescribe.Diversion of prescription opioids is a major contributor to the rising mortality from opioid overdoses. Data to inform surgeons on the optimal dose of opioids to prescribe after common general surgical procedures is lacking.We evaluated 642 patients undergoing 5 outpatient procedures: partial mastectomy (PM), partial...