Managing Pain After Laparoscopic Surgery

Improving Pain Management After Laparoscopic Surgery with Evidence-Based Guidelines

Problem and Need for the Study

Overprescription of opioids after surgery puts patients at risk of opioid overdose, contributing to the ongoing public health crisis of opioid-related deaths. Using evidence-based clinical practice guidelines to manage pain can minimize opioid use while offering pain relief.

Despite being a common type of procedure, abdominal laparoscopic surgeries lack comprehensive, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for pain management. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) identified these surgeries as a high priority area for clinical practice guideline development.

Innovation and Impact

The goal of this project is to develop, implement, and evaluate comprehensive, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for pain management before, during, and after abdominal laparoscopic surgery. We want to minimize the use of opioids while still effectively treating patients’ pain.

Our aims are to:

• Develop a set of clinical practice guidelines for abdominal laparoscopic surgery pain management at the Minnesota Evidence-Based Practice Center
• Implement the guidelines and disseminate widely through public-facing materials
• Evaluate and assess the guidelines in practice

Key Personnel and Performance Sites

University of Minnesota

• Principal Investigators: Bronwyn Southwell, Genevieve Melton-Meaux, Mary Butler
• Co-Investigators: Shahnaz Sultan, Timothy Wilt, Debbie Pestka, Christopher Tignanelli, Jared Huling, Sue Duval, Aaron Berg, Roni Evans, Stuart Grande

University of California San Francisco

• Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Wick
• Co-Investigators: Matthias Behrends, Logan Pierce

The Food and Drug Administration U01 grant is a three year, $2 million award.
Project dates: 25-September-2023 to 24-September-2026