Describing the decision process of post-operative opioid and pain prescribing patterns in orthopedic and general surgeons.

Objective: To describe the post-operative opioid prescribing behaviors of orthopedic and general surgeons through the use of the Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM), and subsequently the steps and logic used by providers in determining post-operative pain prescriptions.

Design: This study was a prospective, cross-sectional, cohort study utilizing qualitative methods consisting of semistructured interviews. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis to categorize and identify themes to describe prescriber behavior.