Page 14 - Christiana Care Focus October 2018
P. 14
Acute Medicine |
Christiana Care Health System is making tremendous progress
in reducing the amount of opioids prescribed in Delaware.
break the cycle
New opioid prescribing guidelines remove fuel for addiction
Before surgeon Emily Penman, M.D., begins a mastectomy or lumpectomy, her lightly sedated patient receives a nerve block to control pain after surgery.
Its effectiveness, when combined with other anti-inflammatory medications, has lowered the need for opioids while reducing by 30 percent the proportion of patients who experience severe pain in the post-anesthesia care unit.
Christiana Care Health System is successfully reducing its use of opioids systemwide, including in post-surgical prescribing, its emergency departments and in primary care.
New evidence of its progress includes:
• A40percentreductioninthenumberofopioidsprescribed after some OB-GYN and general surgery procedures.
• Areductionbyalmost50percentintherateofopioid prescriptions among discharged emergency department patients.
• A37percentreductioninprimarycarepatientsonchronic opioid therapy in a pilot project.
12 CHRISTIANA CARE HEALTH SYSTEM
