Background Pain is a common symptom in patients receiving palliative care and it is predominantly managed with opioids (NICE. 2012). While opioids are effective for pain management, they are associated with side effects that may impair a patient’s ability to drive, such as sedation, poor coordination, slower reaction times and visual disturbance (Cameron-Burr, Conicella, Neavyn. J Med Toxicol. 2021;17(3):289–308).

Aims This study aimed to determine the frequency of documented driving advice provided to inpatients taking prescription opioids, to assess the knowledge of both patients and staff regarding driving advice, and to evaluate how confident staff are at providing opioid-related driving advice to patients, with the aim to improve current practice.

Methods A patient database was used to access medical records to review patients prescribed opioids and any documented discussions of opioid-related driving advice. Patient and staff surveys were conducted to assess awareness and understanding of driving advice, with staff further being surveyed on their confidence to provide this advice. Inpatients taking prescription opioids and who were discharged home between 24/02/2024 and 23/04/2024 were eligible for the study. Staff eligible for the study included doctors of all grades, band 5 and 6 nurses, and band 7 pharmacists.

Results Of the patients included in the study (N=44), only 15.9% of patients (N=7) had a documented driving safety discussion. The inpatient survey (N=10) reported that 30% of patients (N=3) received driving advice. The staff survey reported that 83.3% of staff (N=12) have provided driving advice to patients, yet only 25% of staff (N=3) had received teaching on this topic. 100% of specialty doctors and specialist grade doctors (N=2) were confident in providing driving advice compared to only 33.3% of GP Specialty Trainee doctors (N=3).

Conclusions Documentation of driving advice for palliative patients taking opioids is minimal. Documentation may be improved by incorporating it into pre-existing admission clerking templates. Finally, teaching may improve staff confidence in providing consistent driving advice.