Improving perioperative acetaminophen administration for safer and cost‐effective multimodal analgesia in pediatric surgery: A QI initiative

Abstract Background The use of acetaminophen in the perioperative period has emerged as an attractive option for providing safer and cost‐effective analgesia in children. Aims The primary aim of our project was to increase the use of acetaminophen (both oral and intravenous) in the perioperative period from a baseline of 39.5% to 50% for all surgical patients within 24 months. The secondary aim was to increase the use of enteral acetaminophen from 10% to 52.5% during the same period. Methods A multidisciplinary team was formed, and model for improvement was chosen as the QI methodology. The primary measure was the total percentage of surgical patients receiving any form of perioperative acetaminophen, while our secondary measure was the percentage use of oral acetaminophen administration. We also tracked the average maximum PACU (Post Anesthesia Care Unit) pain scores and the percentage of patients receiving IV opioids. Multiple interventions were conducted, including education, increasing the availability of acetaminophen, and optimizing the electronic medical record (EMR). Monthly data was collected using an automated report in the EMR. Results We successfully achieved our goal, increasing the use of acetaminophen from 39.5% to 70% within four months. Despite some fluctuations, by the end of 24 months, we not only met but surpassed our goal, with 63% of patients receiving perioperative acetaminophen. Similarly, the usage of oral acetaminophen increased from a baseline of 10% to 78%. Our average maximum PACU pain scores improved from 5.4 to 5.2, and the percentage of patients receiving rescue opioids decreased from 15.4 to 13.1. Conclusion We successfully achieved and sustained our goals of improving acetaminophen use for our surgical patients without worsening pain scores or worsening use of intravenous opioids. Future directions include further refining our strategies and exploring additional opportunities to optimize pain management in pediatric perioperative settings.