In recent years, Quebec and Canada have been experiencing an opioid crisis, directly linked to an alarming number of deaths. Opioids are widely used during surgery to control pain, but these drugs are not without side effects (e.g. nausea, dizziness, breathing difficulties, paradoxical increase in pain, etc.) and can rapidly induce dependence. The administration of opioids during and after surgery is therefore not all good news for patients. What’s more, with over a million surgeries performed each year in Canada, the use of opioids in perioperative medicine contributes to chronic opioid use (i.e., the opioid crisis), considering that around 2% of patients will continue to use opioids in the long term. In this context, alternatives to opioids exist and are increasingly used. These drugs could be advantageous in optimizing patients’ analgesia and functional recovery after surgery, as well as reducing opioid exposure. However, the best way to use these strategies and the actual benefits for patients are uncertain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s why Dr. Michael Verret set up the Optimizing Patient-centred outcomes Using opioid minimization Strategies (OPUS) research program, a patient-centred approach to guiding the use of co-analgesics in perioperative medicine. Michael Verret is a clinical researcher, assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Universit\u00e9 Laval and member of the QPRN. His promising program has been funded by the International Anesthesia Research Society<\/a> and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n