Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols are effective at reducing inpatient opiate use. There is a paucity of studies on the effects of an ERAS protocol on outpatient opiate prescriptions.

The aim of this study was to determine whether an ERAS protocol for plastic and reconstructive surgery would reduce opiate use in the outpatient postoperative setting.

A statewide (Massachusetts, USA) controlled substance prescription monitoring database was retrospectively reviewed to assess the prescribing patterns of a single academic plastic surgeon performing common plastic surgical outpatient operations.

The time period prior to implementation of the ERAS protocol was then compared with the time period following protocol implementation.

An additional three months of post-implementation data were then compared with those of each of the previous time periods to investigate whether the results were sustained.