While many hospitals leaders are working to adjust pain management protocols to reduce the number opioid medications prescribed at their facilities, leaders at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colo., have already had great success reducing opioid prescriptions at its facility under pain management policies implemented two years ago, according to a report from ABC13.
The protocol involves more communication between provider and patient regarding alternative methods of pain management.
"The fast and simple way is to write a prescription for a narcotic," George Hertner, MD, the hospital's chief of emergency medicine, told ABC13. "That's not the right treatment for a lot of patients. There's acupuncture and other alternatives that are nonaddictive and unlikely to be diverted or misused."
Dr. Hertner told ABC13 the reduction in opioid prescriptions at the hospital has been substantial. "We're talking hundreds and thousands of doses and pills," he said.
The hospital plans release a report on its findings since instituting the protocols soon, according to ABC13.
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