This week in #patientsafety, we look at the CDC’s updated guidelines on opioids. From around the web, the CDC’s Opioid Guidelines are now available as a mobile app; a man experiences opioid-induced respiratory depression and dies after routine gallbladder surgery; and a study tries to test whether patient involvement actually improves patient safety.

From PPAHS:

Opioid Safety Starts with Informed, Mutual Decisions. Giving patients a decision-making role in their pain plan–and providing them with the information they need to arrive at informed mutual decisions–is a recurring theme in the CDC’s updated guidelines on opioids.

From Around the Web:

New CDC Opioid Guideline Mobile App Now Available. The CDC has released its free Opioid Guideline app, designed to help providers apply the recommendations of the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain into clinical practice.

Man dies after routine gallbladder surgery. Gary Bougie was two months shy of his 36th birthday when he died. His family suspects he died from opioid-induced respiratory depression after going to the hospital for gallbladder surgery.

Achieving Real-Time Respiratory Depression Surveillance of Post-Surgical Patients. A focus on challenges of alarm management in caring for patients at risk for respiratory depression–includes strategies for better monitoring, referencing PPAHS’ national survey on PCA.