Amid signs of a worsening opiate crisis across the country, doctors at JPS are doing their part to stem the tide of drug overdose deaths, writing fewer prescriptions for opiate painkillers. The number of opiate prescriptions dispensed by JPS pharmacies fell 35 percent between 2014 and 2017.
“People are doing a much, much better job in our system, absolutely,” said Manu Mathews, MD, director of the JPS Center for Pain Management.
During The Joint Commission’s recent inspection, a surveyor noted, “JPS is ahead of the curve when it comes to pain management. You do it because it’s right, not because it’s a standard.”
Prescription opioids — drugs like hydrocodone, oxycodone, codeine and fentanyl — are said to be driving a national increase in drug overdose deaths. An average of 115 people die from an opioid overdose every day in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC reported last week that emergency room visits for overdoses increased nearly 30 percent between June 2016 and September 2017.
For many people, there are alternative medications that are more effective and don’t carry the risk of addiction, said Mathews. Among changes in recent years: “We are starting to pay very close attention to co-morbidities,” such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. For those patients, pain relief may come with treatment of the co-existing condition.
Mathews said it’s a moral imperative for physicians. “It’s not only the patient,” he said. “We have to think about the impact that we have on their families. How many of these people on opiates are participating in their children’s lives?”
Said Chet Schrader, MD, an emergency room physician and president of the medical staff, “Obviously we’re concerned about the opioid epidemic in our community, and because of that our physicians are working hard to ensure that every prescription we write is absolutely necessary. There are efforts being undertaken to help curb opioid prescriptions and instead focus on non-narcotic alternatives, such as nerve blocks and NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs).”