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Many prescription opioids following surgery are left unused and are at risk of being misused or diverted. Encouraging proper disposal is important, yet motivating this behavior remains challenging as patients must understand the risks of opioids, the benefits of disposal, and identify opportunities and places to dispose of them safely. Alternative disposal techniques can improve disposal rates but may be lost or forgotten. Applying behavioral economics techniques may lower the barriers and promote disposal. The objective is to test the effect of a specifically timed, mailed, at-home kit on disposal rates following surgery.
A pragmatic, cluster-randomized quality improvement study embedded in an existing automated, post-operative text messaging program to capture patient-reported outcomes (e.g., pain score, opioid use, ability to manage pain) and disposal as part of usual care. It was approved by the University of Pennsylvania Institutional Review Board with a waiver of informed consent.
All patients, 18 years or older, undergoing an orthopedic or urologic procedure and prescribed an opioid were approached and consented via text messaging. Patients without access to a text message capable device or non-English speaking were excluded. Participants were block randomized to usual care or a mailed at-home disposal packet. Usual care consisted of a text message hyperlink to nearby disposal locations. Intervention participants were mailed an at-home disposal packet timed to arrive between post-operative days four and seven based on prior data collection on reported use. The disposal packet (DisposeRx Inc.) contains a powder that sequesters unused opioids in a polymer gel. Patients self-reported disposal via the automated system.
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| Label | Type | Description | Intervention Names |
|---|---|---|---|
| Control | No Intervention | Usual care consisted of a text message hyperlink to nearby disposal locations. | |
| Intervention | Experimental | Intervention participants were mailed an at-home disposal packet timed to arrive between post-operative days four and seven based on prior data collection on reported use. |
|
| Name | Type | Description | Arm Group Labels | Other Names |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medication Disposal Packet | Other | The disposal packet (DisposeRx Inc.) contains a powder that sequesters unused opioids in a polymer gel. The kits reached patients four days following their surgery based on prior data to leverage availability bias, or a tendency to think or act on things that are most present in one's mind, and provided patients with a disposal technique when they were likely to be finished with their opioids. The process of mailing the disposal packet is simple, low cost (~$1.50/ mailed packet) and scalable. |
| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Self-Reported Opioid Disposal | The opioid disposal kits provided patients with a timely, easy, and safe disposal technique which was sent to them between post-operative day 4-7 which corresponds with historical trends in declining opioid use. This primary outcome is self-reported opioid disposal which is obtained via an automated text message sent to patients on post operative day 7. | The duration of the study; two months |
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Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
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| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Anish Agarwal, MD | University of Pennsylvania | Principal Investigator |
| Daniel Lee, MD | University of Pennsylvania | Principal Investigator |
| Zarina Ali, MD | University of Pennsylvania | Principal Investigator |
| Facility | Status | City | State | ZIP | Country | Contacts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia | Pennsylvania | 19104 | United States |
| PubMed Identifier | Type | Citation | Retractions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27631771 | Background | Hill MV, McMahon ML, Stucke RS, Barth RJ Jr. Wide Variation and Excessive Dosage of Opioid Prescriptions for Common General Surgical Procedures. Ann Surg. 2017 Apr;265(4):709-714. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000001993. | |
| 28768328 | Background | Bicket MC, Long JJ, Pronovost PJ, Alexander GC, Wu CL. Prescription Opioid Analgesics Commonly Unused After Surgery: A Systematic Review. JAMA Surg. 2017 Nov 1;152(11):1066-1071. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2017.0831. |
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individual participant data will not be shared.
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| ID | Term |
|---|---|
| D009293 | Opioid-Related Disorders |
| ID | Term |
|---|---|
| D000079524 | Narcotic-Related Disorders |
| D019966 | Substance-Related Disorders |
| D064419 | Chemically-Induced Disorders |
| D001523 | Mental Disorders |
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Participant will be blinded to their random assignment into the control or treatment (medication disposal packet) group
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| 27295629 | Background | Kennedy-Hendricks A, Gielen A, McDonald E, McGinty EE, Shields W, Barry CL. Medication Sharing, Storage, and Disposal Practices for Opioid Medications Among US Adults. JAMA Intern Med. 2016 Jul 1;176(7):1027-9. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.2543. No abstract available. |
| 30916733 | Background | Brummett CM, Steiger R, Englesbe M, Khalsa C, DeBlanc JJ, Denton LR, Waljee J. Effect of an Activated Charcoal Bag on Disposal of Unused Opioids After an Outpatient Surgical Procedure: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Surg. 2019 Jun 1;154(6):558-561. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2019.0155. |
| Background | Agarwal Anish K., Ali Zarina S., Sennett Brian, et al. An Automated Text Messaging Program to Inform Postoperative Opioid Prescribing. NEJM Catal [Internet] [cited 2021 Feb 18];2(3). Available from: https://doi.org/10.1056/CAT.20.0440 |
| 33764425 | Background | Agarwal AK, Lee D, Ali Z, Sennett B, Xiong R, Hemmons J, Spencer E, Abdel-Rahman D, Kleinman R, Lacko H, Horan A, Dooley M, Hume E, Mehta S, Delgado MK. Patient-Reported Opioid Consumption and Pain Intensity After Common Orthopedic and Urologic Surgical Procedures With Use of an Automated Text Messaging System. JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Mar 1;4(3):e213243. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.3243. |