Medical Design and Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

Less Is More When It Comes To Prescription Opioids For Hospital Patients, Study Finds

May 23, 2018 By Yale University

In a pilot study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, Yale researchers significantly reduced doses of opioid painkillers given to hospital patients. By delivering the opioids with a shot under the skin or with a pill instead of an IV, the research team found they could decrease patient exposure to the medications while also maintaining or improving pain relief, they said.

The study, conducted by researchers at Yale School of Medicine and Yale New Haven Hospital, could lead to changes in how providers prescribe opioids to hospitalized patients, noted the researchers, who have recently completed the second and third phases of their trial.

To relieve pain in hospitalized patients, providers typically give prescription opioid drugs in one of three forms: via an IV, orally, or with a shot in the skin. The IV method carries greater risk of side effects because IV opioids rapidly penetrate the central nervous system. It has been shown that even one IV dose can cause changes in the brain that are associated with addiction, the researchers said.

To test a new standard of opioid prescribing that prefers the non-IV methods, the research team developed an intervention involving a few hundred hospital patients, and educating the providers and nurses about the new standard. Over the three-month intervention period, the researchers measured daily IV doses, non-IV doses, and overall opioid doses per patient. They also analyzed pain scores during the first five days of hospitalization.

(Image credit: Associated Press)

After comparing outcomes with a control group, the team found that IV opioid dosing was reduced by 84 percent for the intervention group. The overall exposure to opioids substantially decreased as well. Unexpectedly, the researchers found that intervention-group patients had pain scores that were similar or improved, they said.

More research is needed to validate the findings, but the results “have the potential to be practice changing,” said lead author Adam Ackerman, MD, clinical instructor in internal medicine at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) and medical director of the pilot study inpatient unit at Yale New Haven Hospital.

“The data shows that the non-IV use of opioids can reduce overall opioid use in adult inpatients with no change in pain control, and potentially an improvement,” says Robert Fogerty, MD, associate professor of medicine at YSM and co-author on the study. “It’s an example of less is more.”

While IV opioids have a role in medicine for relieving acute pain, says Fogerty, the subcutaneous route can serve as a “bridge” to help hospital patients safely transition to pills.

A shift in how opioid painkillers are delivered in hospitals could help combat the crisis of addiction and overdose deaths, which continues to affect thousands of Americans each year, the researchers say.

“As physicians, we’re obligated to provide help to the community. Part of that service is thinking analytically about how, when, and why we use opioids. The data show there are opportunities to improve the way we control pain and the way we impact the opioid crisis,” Fogerty says.

“This study represents an important piece of the puzzle in terms of how opioids can be used more safely and effectively in clinical practice,” says co-author Patrick G. O’Connor, MD, the Dan Adams and Amanda Adams Professor of General Medicine and chief of general internal medicine at YSM. “It also represents a critical strategy for reducing the potential risk of opioid-related complications, including overdose and death.”

Related Articles Read More >

An illustration showing the Edwards Lifesciences Sapien M3 transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR) system's valve being placed in the heart. [Image courtesy of Edwards Lifesciences]
The top nitinol cardiac medtech news of 2025 (so far)
A photo showing the Dualto Energy System's modular design with two generators stacked for two users at a time.
What J&J MedTech’s new Dualto says about the OR of the future — and Ottava
An illustration showing the Edwards Lifesciences Sapien M3 transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR) system's valve being placed in the heart. [Image courtesy of Edwards Lifesciences]
Q&A with Darshin Patel, who led the Edwards Lifesciences Sapien M3 TMVR system’s development
A photo of nitinol, a nickel-titanium alloy used for medical devices such as stents, heart valves, catheters and orthopedics.
What is nitinol and where is it used?
“mdo
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest medical device business news, application and technology trends.

DeviceTalks Weekly

See More >

MDO Digital Edition

Digital Edition

Subscribe to Medical Design & Outsourcing. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading medical design engineering magazine today.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
DeviceTalks

DeviceTalks is a conversation among medical technology leaders. It's events, podcasts, webinars and one-on-one exchanges of ideas & insights.

DeviceTalks

New MedTech Resource

Medical Tubing

MassDevice

Mass Device

The Medical Device Business Journal. MassDevice is the leading medical device news business journal telling the stories of the devices that save lives.

Visit Website
MDO ad
Medical Design and Outsourcing
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • MedTech100 Index
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Medical Design Sourcing
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World
  • R&D World
  • About Us/Contact
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscribe to Print Magazine
  • Subscribe to our E-Newsletter
  • Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
  • Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media LLC. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Medical Design & Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe