In Surgical Care, Opioid Use Is Complex

In the March issue of the Bulletin of the American College of Surgeons, a bioethicist from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, described how a motorcycle crash and his subsequent experience with opioids opened his eyes to a serious gap in surgical care—insufficient assistance for patients discontinuing their use of prescribed opioid medications.

Since that accident, Travis N. Rieder, PhD, has refocused his career on the complexities of opioid withdrawal and the nationwide structural issues underlying the gap.

The article also features a trauma surgeon and several other physicians who offer advice on right-sizing opioid prescribing and how to handle patient cessation.

“The surgical departments are very invested in this. They see the value of it, and I think they want to see it succeed,” said Seth Waldman, MD, director of the Division of Pain Management at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, New York.

Read the full article, “In Surgical Care, Opioid Use Is Complex,” and see other articles in the March issue.

See more detailed 2024 Main Residency Match data.