A new guideline from Dartmouth University surgeons, published online in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, suggests that for inpatients having general surgery, receiving opioids the day before hospital discharge best predicts postdischarge use. The authors suggested that if no opioid pills are taken the day before discharge, no prescription is needed; if 1 to 3 opioid pills are taken the day before discharge, then a prescription for 15 opioid pills is given at discharge; and if 4 or more pills are taken the day before discharge, then a prescription for 30 opioid pills is given at discharge. The type of surgery was found not to affect the number of opioid pills the patients used after discharge.