A Simple Brochure Improves Disposal of Unused Opioids: An Observational Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: We evaluated the effectiveness of a simple, low-cost educational brochure in improving disposal rates of unused opioids after outpatient upper extremity surgery. Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled eligible adult patients from a peripheral nerve clinic between November 2017 and September 2018. Patients either received or did not receive the educational brochure, which outlined a simple method to dispose of unused opioids and completed a survey at 2 weeks after surgery. We compared the proportion of patients who disposed of unused opioids after surgery between the group that had received the brochure and the group that had not. Categorical data were analyzed with χ2 test, proportions data with binomial tests, and numerical data with Mann-Whitney U test, all with a significance level of P