Kristen Starbuck
Papers
1
Total Citations
123
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1
About
Kristen Starbuck is a leading voice in surgical pain management, best known for her transformative work on postoperative opioid stewardship. Her research centers on developing and validating ultrarestrictive opioid prescription protocols, directly challenging the routine overprescription of opioids after gynecologic and abdominal surgery. In her landmark 2018 study, cited over 120 times, Starbuck demonstrated that a dramatically reduced, procedure-specific opioid prescription strategy can effectively manage home pain without compromising patient recovery. This work is pivotal because it provides evidence-based guidelines where few existed, directly addressing the public health crisis of opioid misuse by showing that less is often more. By quantifying the minimal amount of opioids needed after common surgeries, her findings have helped reshape clinical practice, reducing the risk of chronic opioid use and adverse side effects. Starbuck’s contributions are not merely academic; they offer a practical, patient-centered roadmap for safer surgical recovery, making her a key figure in the movement toward responsible, evidence-based pain management in the United States.
Research Focus
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Top Papers
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