Colorado Opioid Crisis: Hospitals Trying New Approach

Recognizing a growing opioid epidemic in Colorado, a group of eight hospitals and three freestanding emergency departments are comings together to try a new approach. The plan - spearheaded by the Colorado Hospital Association - will try to combat the fact that the state has the 12th highest rate of misuse and abuse of prescription opioids in the country.

The participants in the program will attempt to reduce the administration of opioids by emergency department clinicians. They will also gather data, establish best practices, and - whenever possible - use alternatives to opioids as the first line of treatment. (For more information on this and other local stories, subscribe to your local Patch for breaking news alerts.)

"Knowing how I was treating pain in the ED and the potential for addiction after discharge led my colleagues and I to seriously think about how we could reduce patient exposure to opioids, while at the same time improve pain management," said Dr. Don Stadera member of the board of directors of the Colorado chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, which helped form the plan.

The program involves using alternatives to opioids to treat different types of pain such as kidney stones, migraines, back spasms, even abdominal pain, broken bones and dislocations, acute or chronic pain, using a specific, targeted approach to address the root causes of the pain, according to the hospital association.

Image via ShutterStock