Mercy Regional Medical Center has changed how it manages the pain of emergency room patients to help prevent opioid addiction.
Instead of prescribing narcotics to some patients, the hospital staff is using alternative medications and treatments, said Paul Gibson, director of the ER.
“Over the years, we have been prescribing medication to treat the pain, rather than treating what is causing the pain,” he said.
The program, which launched Dec. 1, is helping to change that practice. For example, if a patient comes to the hospital with a broken hip, staff might inject the area with lidocaine, a localized anesthetic, to numb the area instead of prescribing an opioid. If a patient comes with a painful infection, treatment will focus on the infection.
Limiting opioid prescriptions is an important step to help stop opioid-related deaths, Gibson said.
In 2017, more than 1,000 Coloradans died of an overdose, including 560 from opioid-based substances, such as heroin, according to the Colorado Health Institute. Prescription pill addictions can lead patients to seek out heroin, Gibson said.
Mercy’s ER staff still uses opioid medications when necessary, such as when a patient is in a car accident and comes in with major trauma, he said. But narcotics are used for as short a time as possible.
Since Dec. 1, Mercy reduced its opioid prescriptions by 7% per 1,000 emergency visits. Mercy’s ER department handles between 1,600 to 1,800 visits a month, Gibson said.
The cutbacks can help prevent addictions, especially among those who may develop a dependency in a few days because of the euphoric feeling it creates, he said.
“We are just not in the market to be handing that stuff out anymore,” he said.
Before the new program launched, the emergency department had already limited how much opioid medication staff members would prescribe at once to a 24-hour or 72-hour supply, he said. Patients would need to go to different medical setting, such as a primary care office, to receive a larger prescription, he said.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
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