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Latest - Mar 14, 2025
Painless Licensing + Spring TBE – Spring 2025 Newsletter
Hello, Painless: The Opioid Musical started as an idea to engage with students on the topic of opioid use after learning that almost 75% of high schoolers had access to unused opioids. Painless has been featured on The Today Show, seen by more than 2,400 students in Michigan, and streamed over 90,000 times. We are thrilled to share […]Jan 18, 2019
Michigan OPEN Awarded the 2018 Eagle Award for Visionary Leadership
Michigan OPEN was among the 2018 honorees at the Greater Detroit Area Health Council’s annual Salute to Healthcare on November 8. The ceremony recognizes individuals and organizations who are working to improve the health and well-being of the southeast Michigan community. The Michigan OPEN team was awarded the 2018 Eagle Award for Visionary Leadership. The […]Nov 21, 2018
Patients Use Only a Fraction of Opioids Given After Surgery — But Prescription Size Affects Use
Many surgeons write prescriptions for opioid pain medications four times larger than what their patients will actually use after common operations, a new study shows. And the size of that prescription may be the most important factor in how many opioid pills the patient will take – outweighing their pain scores, the intensity of their […]Nov 9, 2018
Hundreds of Families Bring Back Unused Medications for National Prescription Drug Take Back Day
On Saturday, October 27, Michigan residents in 32 counties had a chance to get opioids and other unused and expired prescription medicines out of their medicine cabinets through 60 simultaneous events held around the state. The collective effort resulted in hundreds of families safely removing over 3,000 pounds of medication, including approximately 40,000 opioids, from […]Aug 7, 2018
Those who fill an opioid prescription for wisdom tooth removal are nearly three times as likely to keep using
A new study recently published in JAMA by Michigan OPEN researchers finds a link between filling an opioid prescription after wisdom tooth extraction and long-term opioid use Young people ages 13 to 30 who filled an opioid prescription immediately before or after they had their wisdom teeth out were nearly three times as likely as […]Jul 30, 2018
Older Adult’s Experiences with Opioid Prescriptions: National Poll on Healthy Aging
Did you know that millions of adults in the United States live with daily pain? Injuries, surgeries, and procedures are common among older adults, and can result in acute and chronic pain. In March 2018, Michigan OPEN teamed up with the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging to ask a national sample of […]Jul 26, 2018
Reducing Opioid Prescriptions for One Operation Can Also Spill Over to Other Procedures
Dr. Michael Englesbe, co-director of Michigan OPEN and a transplant surgeon at the University of Michigan, has recently taken major strides in curbing the negative outcomes of the opioid epidemic. Describing the role of physicians in mitigating these consequences, he stated that, “Every surgeon, no matter what specialty or procedure they do, dentists included, needs […]Jun 20, 2018
Michigan OPEN Research Featured in NY Times
“We believe patient-reported outcomes are a better way to guide than expert consensus” -Michigan OPEN Co-Director Chad Brummett, MD. In the midst of the Opioid Epidemic, much fueled by the over prescribing of painkillers after surgery, surgeons and researchers are searching for evidence-based guidelines regarding optimal prescription sizes after surgery. Michigan OPEN, with collaborators MSQC […]Apr 28, 2018
Statewide Drug Takeback Event Brings in Over One Ton of Unused Medications
On Saturday, April 28, Michigan residents in 17 counties had a chance to get opioids and other unused and expired prescription medicines out of their medicine cabinets through 27 simultaneous events held around the state. The collective effort resulted in hundreds of families safely removing a total of 2000+ pounds of medication, including approximately 54,000 […]Apr 20, 2018
Opioid Commission Releases Acute Pain Prescribing Recommendations for Health Professionals
The Prescription Drug and Opioid Abuse Commission (PDOAC) has released prescribing recommendations for surgeons, emergency departments and dentists when treating acute pain. The recommendations were created in partnership with Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network (OPEN) and University of Michigan Injury Prevention Center. “The recommendations are intended to provide alternatives to opioids and controlled substances for the treatment of acute pain,” said Judge Linda Davis, […]Apr 18, 2018
Michigan OPEN Opioid Prescribing Guidelines featured as one of several resources all combatting the opioid epidemic at Michigan Medicine
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about 115 Americans die each day from an opioid overdose—almost five every hour—and the numbers are increasing, A wide range of U-M researchers are working to tackle the root causes of, and potential solutions for, this national crisis. One of these solutions, Opioid Prescribing Recommendations for Surgery, […]Apr 9, 2018
Michigan OPEN Co-Directors on panel at National Prescription Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit with BCBSM and MDHHS
Michigan OPEN co-directors, Jenn Waljee MD and Chad Brummett MD, alongside Chris Priest (Medicaid Director for the Department of Health and Human Services), and Tom Leyden (Director II, Value Partnerships Program at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan) were featured presenters at the National Prescription Drug and Heroin Summit in Atlanta, Georgia last week. This […]Mar 9, 2018