Provider education decreases opioid prescribing after pediatric umbilical hernia repair

Abstract Purpose To improve opioid stewardship for umbilical hernia repair in children. Methods An educational intervention was conducted at 9 centers with 79 surgeons. The intervention highlighted the importance of opioid stewardship, demonstrated practice variation, provided prescribing guidelines, encouraged non-opioid analgesics, and encouraged limiting doses/strength if opioids were prescribed. Three to six months of pre-intervention and 3 months of post-intervention prescribing practices for umbilical hernia repair were compared. Results A total of 343 patients were identified in the pre-intervention cohort and 346 in the post-intervention cohort. The percent of patients receiving opioids at discharge decreased from 75.8% pre-intervention to 44.6% (p  Conclusions Opioid stewardship can be improved after pediatric umbilical hernia repair using a low-fidelity educational intervention. Type of Study Retrospective cohort study. Level of Evidence Level II.