Posted on 03/31/2016 6:02:17 AM PDT by Wolfie
New Jersey hospital emergency room becomes first in U.S. to end use of opioid painkillers
PATERSON, N.J. -- St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center announced it has become the first hospital in the country to implement a program that will manage patients' pain in the emergency room without the use of opioid painkillers.
Painkillers most frequently used in the emergency room in the past were oxycodone, vicodin and percocet, according to Dr. Mark Rosenberg, the Emergency Department chair.
“Our job here together is to look at the whole equation and understand how we can stop people from going from a prescription, to an addiction,” he said.
About a half-mile down the road from St. Joseph’s, recovering addicts are lining up for treatment at Eva’s Village.
Demetria Washington said she started on pills before moving on to heroin.
“Then I couldn’t get to it no more and a girlfriend of mine was like well you could just try heroin. And I tried it and I liked it.”
She used drugs for 18 years, before entering recovery. She’s been clean for 8 years and currently works as a recovery specialist at Eva's.
“A lot of people use prescription drugs and then they end up turning to heroin,” she added.
Washington’s co-worker told us that she warns her son about the dangers of abusing prescription painkillers everyday.
“That’s what I tell my son because he’s seen me at my lowest point,” said Geraldine Lowe.
Lowe is also a recovering addict and a recovery specialist at Eva’s Village.
"As a matter of fact, and I’m not ashamed to say it, he was born addicted to drugs,” she said, adding that her son is now using pills.
America’s pill problem hits close to home, even for the head of St. Joseph's Emergency Department. Dr. Rosenberg said his mother-in-law recently broke her wrist.
“She went to the local emergency department without telling me, and she got 5 percocet and told to see her family doctor. Family doctor gave her a prescription for 100. She’s 93 years old. 100 percocet. The point being is we, our culture is such that it’s really, really out of control,” said Dr. Rosenberg.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, more people died from drug overdoses in 2014 than than in any year on record, beating out deaths caused by car crashes and guns. Heroin and painkiller abuse are driving this problem, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
“In 2012, there were enough opioid prescriptions issued - nearly 260 million - to give every man, woman and child in the country their own bottle of pills,” said U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ).
Federal and local lawmakers, law enforcement and health officials met for several hours at St. Joseph’s today to discuss how to stem the tide of opioid addiction.
“Everybody is at this table that should be, except for a few other people. We need the pharmaceuticals here, because they're shoving drugs down our throats,” said U.S. Congressman Bill Pascrell (D-NJ).
St. Joseph’s Emergency Department, one of the busiest in the nation, has already begun to treat over 250 patients with alternative medicine or treatments, who would have otherwise received opioids. While opioids will still be used by St. Joseph’s staff to treat chronic pain, they will no longer be the first line of treatment.
“We have to acknowledge the fact that opioids are an essential drug to managing people with severe pain, like cancer pain,” said Dr. Rosenberg.
Federal legislation known as the Comprehensive addiction and recovery act is currently pending that could provide federal grants to states and local governments to combat the national epidemic of heroin addiction and prescription painkiller abuse.
It passed the Senate this month, it has not been voted on in the house
I agree. I also had a tendon surgery in a finger....
Wanna sell ‘em ? ! ? /s
Broken bones? Torredol is used sometimes.
Wives do that...
Well, I have increased my fiber intake and that seems to control it but will increase my C and see what happens, thank you.
I am a pharmacist. This is stupid. When I was an organ doner I took huge doses of morphine for pain. I got off the morphine quickly once the pain was less. I do not have an addictive personality and I did not like the way it made me feel.
I was briefly on a morphine drip after my pancreas exploded.
now I understand how addictive it could be.
OTOH, I would have died of shock and pain without it.
I certainly wouldn’t want to show up that hospital with a broken bone. Someone should give Dr. Rosenberg a badly fractured wrist, and then discuss pain management for acute pain with him.
...
I suspect this new policy is actually being adopted for the convenience of the doctors and hospital, not the benefit of the patients.
I had morphine after major surgery. No pain whatsoever, and was on Oxycodone short term. No addiction either.
If I have a tooth ache, the kind that hurts from my jaw to the crown of my head, and my ear as well, there is only one thing that stops it.
Vicodin
Oxycodone and Acetominophen
I have tried:
Aspirin
Tylenol
Motrin
Excedrin
Tylenol #3
Nothing even lessens my pain, other than Vicodin.
I take one tablet and within ten minutes my pain is gone.
I suffer no other sensation.
I do not get euphoric. I do no sense any type of altered state.
There is no high. There is no giddiness. I observe nothing out of the ordinary.
Without it, I would remain in excruciating pain.
I would not go to this E.R., if I could avoid it.
I have used Vicodin 5 to 10 times in my life. Each time I used it for a short period of time when I needed it, and stopped when The pain was gone with no ill effects whatsoever.
I have had several situations arise where morphine was necessary. It was the only thing that gave me relief. I was given a pump that allowed me to take it as needed.
I have a propensity to develop blood clots. Twice in my life I had massive clotting. In one of the instances my lungs were about 75% involved. My abdomen down to my feet were involved.
This and complications led to excruciating pain. For several days my nerves seemed to extend beyond my body, off the bed, down to the floor and out into the hallway under the door.
If someone walked by outside the door, I could feel it almost like someone was touching me. it literally hurt. I could feel it, my nerves were that raw. The Morphine pump was the only thing that helped. They tried Demerol and it did nothing.
I mention this because it is important for people to understand the pain others feel.
Some physicians having never felt something like this in their lives, can’t identify with the need for relief. They cannot fathom this type of pain.
They believe they are operating at a higher moral level if they avoid certain meds. They are wrong. Certain meds are the only things that bring relief, and patients deserve that relief.
After experiencing this level of pain, and finally getting the relief I desperately needed, one physician asked how I was doing. I responded much better. He responded with a snide comment referencing my enjoyment of the high from the Morphine.
He was completely unaware of the level of pain I had experienced, and that the Morphine was the only thing that got me through it.
The Morphine also caused me to hallucinate. My wife explained to me that I was seeing spiders all over the walls and ceiling. I don’t remember that. All I remember is that the pain was gone.
When your body is ravaged by that much pain, you are in an agitated state. It is impossible to relax, to relieve the tension, and I believe to heal. That medication was as important as the blood thinners and antibiotics.
Pain management is very important. It cannot be overlooked, but I know for a fact that physicians hold off certain meds while their patients are in excruciating pain. They shouldn’t.
My use of the Morphine pump was warranted, effective, and stopped the moment the pain subsided, in a subconscious normal manner with no ill effects.
And that is exactly what I needed.
I might not be here if It weren’t for that.
I’ve got a eight inch scar running from where the fingers join the hand to above the wrist. I was walking my Great Dane when we encountered an amorous pit bull. I was able to prevent a fight but at a cost. Was unable to drive for four months. Amazing thing is I have fully recovered. I can play golf and touch type.
Huh? Warm, fuzzy and as comforted as if you were wrapped in a lovers arms?
What's not to like love adore?
That is me too. Only, I have had one back surgery and that was enough for one lifetime. I had a ruptured disk.
The pain after the surgery was manageable; before impossible. I wonder if I’d be completely immobile and addicted to pain medications without the surgery. My quality of life would have been nonexistent.
The surgery was a lifesaver for me and, believe or not, the doctors were considering skipping the surgery and treating me with pain meds and physical therapy. After the surgery, the surgeon admitted that it was worse than he had originally thought and even the MRI scans didn’t show the extent of the injury. Six years later, I still have some paralysis but I am mobile and completely functional and I thank God every day for the surgery.
The trade off — the risk of surgery and with a complete recovery (almost) versus years of being bed ridden and in pain and addicted to pain medications.
Same here. I wouldn't be able to get out of bed, much less work without Norco. Even had a doctor tell me there is a huge difference between being addicted and being dependant.
'Fractured tibia, sergeant'? 'Fractured tibia, sergeant'? Ooh. Proper little mummy's boy, aren't we? Well, I'll tell you something, my fine friend, if you fracture a tibia here you keep quiet about it! Look at him! (looks more closely) He's broken both his arms and he don't go shouting about it, do he? No! 'Cos he's a man - he's a woman, you see, so don't come that broken tibia talk with me. Get on at the double. One, two, three, pick that crutch up, pick that crutch right up.
I don't prescribe opioids very often (like twice a year), and I've decided to stop because the bureaucratic impositions are too much to deal with.
But if I were a surgeon, especially a bone and joint surgeon, or if I treated chronic pain (I don't), life would already have become completely unmanageable.
Mindfulness.
Yoga.
Chanting.
Mine was from rescuing a chihuahua and while holding it up, it was so terrified that it turned and chomped into my finger. And at the ER they set me up for emergency surgery the next am.
They did a nerve block in my armpit before surgery. Was fun smacking myself in the face the next day. They kept telling me I would have to stay in the hospital more than one night for pain control. I left with percocet anyway and did fine. Eight weeks of occupational therapy.
Burns are the worst. Be thankful!
I think I’d rather let the nurse cure what ails me...
You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. At best, you're making vast generalizations.
I've been on an opioid for almost 10 years for extreme back problems. (yes, I've had surgery and get injections periodically) Some days I take less, some days I take the full dose. I've never doubled my dosage! People can damn well rely on me! I'm actually more reliable at my job than my younger co-workers.
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