Implementing an Education Intervention for Prescription Opioid Pain Medication at Pediatric Trauma Centers

Adolescents treated in trauma centers are frequently prescribed opioid pain medication for pain management at hospital discharge. There has been an increase in adolescent opioid overdose deaths requiring additional education on risks associated with opioid pain medication use in this population. The objective of this analysis was to assess the implementation at ten US pediatric trauma centers of an opioid pain medication prevention education intervention and whether implementation of the intervention was also associated with an increase of delivery of pain medication education and a reduction in opioid prescribing. Across all sites during the study period, 4,371 adolescent patients received an opioid pain medication at discharge. Opioid pain medication education increased from 20.9% before the intervention’s implementation to 37.3% (p = 0.0001) after implementation. There was also a significant increase in adolescent patients with positive screens on admission for alcohol or drugs in getting opioid pain medication education after the implementation. Additionally, there was a modest decrease in opioid prescribing at discharge from pre- to post-implementation of the intervention: 54.7% to 48.8% (p < 0.0001). An intervention that includes training staff on delivery of opioid pain medication education for adolescents and family members can improve education provided to patients being prescribed opioid pain medication at discharge from pediatric trauma centers.