2026 Southeastern Residency Conference

Purpose/Background: Previously, Huntsville Hospital implemented several multimodal analgesia order sets intended to enhance postoperative outcomes by reducing opioid utilization, leading to reduced hospital length of stay, early ambulation, and improved overall outcomes. Although initial findings were favorable, the emergence of new evidence necessitates re-evaluation of the protocol to ensure continued alignment with current best practices. This project will compare the utilization and effectiveness of the previous order sets with the development and implementation of updated order sets incorporating current literature.
Methodology: This was a single-center, Institutional Review Committee (IRC)–approved, pre–post analysis conducted at Huntsville Hospital to evaluate existing multimodal analgesia protocols. The primary objective was to reduce opioid usage by optimizing multimodal regimen. The secondary objective was to characterize utilization patterns of the order sets by order set and prescriber type. Data was reviewed for patients receiving select order sets following surgery between February 1, 2025, and August 31, 2025.
Baseline demographic variables, including sex, age, gender, and related allergies, were obtained from the electronic health record. Literature review was conducted, and associated findings was utilized to update the respective order sets.  Opioid use in morphine equivalents and length of stay will be compared between the two groups. Descriptive analyses were performed to assess adherence to the existing multimodal order set and to identify discrepancies between current practice and recommendations described in the literature.
Results: Pre-intervention data analysis demonstrated that multimodal analgesia utilization varied across specialties, with acetaminophen being the most consistently used agent. Additionally, existing order sets were not aligned with current primary literature recommendations.
Conclusion: Guided by pre-intervention data analysis and literature review, recommendations for order set modifications were developed. Post-intervention data assessing primary and secondary outcomes are currently pending.