An Evidence Based Educational Module on the Efficacy of Single-shot Intrathecal Morphine in Minimizing Postoperative Opioid Requirement in Abdominal Surgery Patients: A Quality Improvement Project

Acute postoperative pain is a complex, physiological reaction to tissue injury. It remains a challenge for anesthesia providers and health care practitioners to create a balanced multimodal approach to treat it. Ineffective management such as undertreatment and overtreatment of postoperative pain leads to poor patient outcomes. Emerging as a favorable option in clinical practice is the use of Intrathecal Morphine (ITM) before induction of general anesthesia. It is a simpler and quicker neuraxial technique with a lower rate of failure. 1 Morphine was the first opioid approved by the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) for spinal administration, and it is also the most common epidural opioid used.1 ITM is now deemed by many as the gold-standard single-dose neuraxial opioid and is extensively used in the perioperative setting due to improved analgesia, greater duration of action, and dose-sparing effects compared with its administration via the systemic route.1,