scribing more
opioid
painkillers for
patients who are
undergoing com-
mon surgeries
than ever before
(osmag.net/A9fXFj).
In the study,
researchers ana-
lyzed insurance
claims from 2004
through 2012 for 4 common outpatient procedures — carpal tunnel
repair, laparoscopic gall bladder removal, knee arthroscopy and hernia
repair — and found that 4 out of 5 patients filled a prescription for an
opioid pain medication within 7 days of surgery. The amount of opioids
prescribed during the study period also increased.
This comes after the announcement of new CDC guidelines on pre-
scribing opioids, which suggest providers limit the drugs' duration for
patients suffering from acute pain to 3 days or less in most situations.
Under the guidelines, taking opioids to treat acute pain for more than 7
days should "rarely" occur.
In light of these developments, providers need new approaches to
combat post-op pain, says Kara Settles, MD, assistant professor of
anesthesiology at the UMKC School of Medicine in Kansas City, Mo.
Her solution? "Two words: multimodal approach." Here are 5 trends
that could boost your post-op pain management plan. In a multimodal
approach, the emphasis is centered on "achieving optimal pain relief
with minimum toxicity" and combining drugs that have different
mechanisms of action to produce a more synergistic effect.
A P R I L 2 0 1 6 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 4 7
• MORE REGIONAL One of the biggest trends in post-op pain management is ultrasound-guid-
ed nerve blocks, says Gregory Hickman, MD.
Andrews
Institute
ASC
