Case Study: Opioid-induced Constipation
You work in a pediatric surgical practice. You notice that children are frequently seen post-discharge for complaints of abdominal distress and constipation. You suspect opioid-induced constipation. Your practice has no related practice policies.
Questions: What can you discover about opioid-induced constipation in your own practice and in general? Should your practice have a related policy? If not, why not? If so, what should the policy be?
Data
Data from your practice 2009-present. Please calculate statistics from the data.
Related articles: Only examples.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0707377#t=articleResults
http://pain-topics.org/pdf/Managing_Opioid-Induced_Constipation.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1974804/
What other sources are available to you?
Please do research and utilize other sources.
Grading rubric:
1. Use of credible sources (1 points). Make sure that your (minimum of 2) sources are scholarly, current, and credible.
2. Analysis of applicability of research studies to target population (1 points). Any studies cited in support of your work must be discussed in light of their appropriateness for your patients.
3. Use of statistics to describe the scope of the problem of opioid-induced constipation (1 points).
4. Description of the problem, background information, and recommended solution (1 points).
5. Use of APA format. (1 point).