Step 2. Identify the extent of opioid-related adverse events.
Determining how widespread or frequent adverse opioidrelated
events are involves a multimethod approach that can
be accomplished through tracking adverse drug events from
reporting mechanisms and practice patterns such as (a) sentinel
event incident reports, (b) work logs from the Rapid Response
Team activities, (c) pharmacy records for naloxone use,
(d) quality review forums or Mortality and Morbidity (M & M)
conferences in response to adverse patient outcomes or unsafe
practices, (e) admission or transfer data reflecting the need
for a higher level of care for patients experiencing an opioidrelated
adverse event, (f) regular review or audits of patient
health records from the inpatient units and perioperative areas
(operating room and postanesthesia care unit (PACU), and
ambulatory surgical areas), or (g) medication error reporting
data with follow-up interviews of nurses to expose near-miss
or actual events.