Objective Quantification of Opioid Usage After Thyroid Surgery

Abstract Introduction It is well established that America is in the midst of an opioid crisis with 46 people dying every day from overdoses involving prescription opioids. In the last 2 years, multiple articles have been published indicating that the amount of opioid pain medication needed after discharge from thyroid and parathyroid surgery is low. Objective To objectively examine the amount of opioid pain medication required by patients in our practice after thyroid surgery. Methods Patients were given a standardized discharge prescription of 30 pills with a combination of 7.5 mg of hydro...