- [Announcer] This segment of Live on Lakeside
is sponsored by Akron Children's Hospital.
(upbeat music)
- Welcome back, time now 11:28.
We've heard a lot in the news recently
that opioid abuse is an epidemic
affecting the lives of so many people,
especially here in Northeast Ohio.
Holly recently visited Akron Children's Hospital
to hear about their new opioid program
and what they're doing to make a difference
when it comes to this issue.
Take a look.
- Opioid painkillers,
they're commonly prescribed, and have been over the years,
to patients as they recover from surgery to help them heal,
but in recent days and years,
there has been a lot of issues with this.
So the doctors at Akron Children's Hospital
have examined this issue,
and they are set to make a difference
with how they're prescribing these medications.
Joining me to talk about this today is Dr. Kerwyn Jones.
Thank you; this is so important,
first of all-- - Thank you for having us.
- How did this whole decision come to be?
- Well, while it's no secret, as you said,
that the opioid epidemic is a major issue,
a crisis, if you will,
for our children and our patients
in this healthcare industry.
But I think the big thing that people don't understand
is that while doctors are not responsible
for this healthcare issue,
they certainly played a role in this healthcare issue.
And we, therefore, feel like
we are responsible for understanding
the prescribing patterns that we give for children,
to really know more about how we give opioids to children.
- So, exactly what steps did you take
to look into this issue?
- We were actually part of a four-hospital group
that actually explored what our prescribing patterns were
for children after orthopedic surgery.
What we did is we actually accumulated data
on what physicians were giving
for different types of orthopedic procedures
to their kids in their population.
And from that data, we're able to see
that there was tremendous variation,
not only from institution to institution
with respect to what they were giving patients,
but variation also within each institution
with respect to what we're giving patients.
And it's not that doctors are bad people,
it's just that we didn't really understand
what are the standards of care?
There really were no standards of care
for these prescribing patterns.
- Right. So then as a result of everything that you did,
how has this affected how you are treating patients now?
- Yeah.
Well, we actually did a little study ourself.
We took that data that we had,
and we came up with four classes of patients,
four different types of procedures
that patients would undergo,
that would dictate what type of narcotics that they got.
In other words, patients that have procedures
where they're minor, moderate, or major procedures
based on the amount of pain that they would have afterwards,
were given varying different degrees of narcotics
based on the predicted pain afterwards.
And by doing that, we're able to standardize care
for all of our patients in our institution.
- Okay. What's been the result of this effort?
- Yeah, well, the next step was
we actually built this into our electronic medical record,
because that way, it almost forces the provider,
the person giving the prescriptions,
to write the correct prescription for the patient.
And by doing so,
we're able to actually achieve 90% compliance
with these guidelines over 12 months of patient care.
- That's amazing!
- Yeah, I give credit to a lot of the physicians
that actually stepped up to the plate
and actually cared enough to make a difference
and try to challenge the system.
And in so doing, we've found that we've decreased
the use of narcotics in this institution
by over 40%.
- Wow! - Yeah.
- I applaud you. That's really great.
So, I'm curious,
how has this caught on in other departments here?
- Great question.
Actually, we've been so successful
in our orthopedic department,
that we now have initiative
for all of the surgical subspecialties
to develop their own pain guidelines by the end of 2019.
- Wow. Is anyone else doing this in the area?
- No, actually, nationally,
there are no other pediatric hospitals
that are actually doing this same sort of thing.
And that's why these guidelines
are actually published online
on our national pediatric orthopedic website
so that other hospitals,
other institutions can start utilizing these.
- So, Akron Children's Hospital can literally say,
"We are the first ones that are doing this."
- That is correct.
- I mean, it's a fear, I think, of any parent
in this day and age, for sure,
because of everything that is going on
with the opioid epidemic.
So, I'm a mom, and I know it scares me to death.
What should a parent know
if their children are indeed prescribed these medications?
- I think one of the most important things to understand
is that they need to question their doctors.
They need to ask the question,
"Does this child really need narcotics?"
Or, if they need narcotics,
"Are there other alternatives
that they can use to supplement the narcotics?"
Simple things, such as acetaminophen or Tylenol,
things like ibuprofen,
and there's a lot of medications that - Aleve, and what not.
Ice, elevation, simple things that they can do
to alleviate pain that aren't necessarily narcotics.
- (Holly) Yeah, conversations
that are super important to have.
- (Dr. Jones) Yes, for sure.
- (Holly) Alright.
Keep on with doing what you're doing, doctor.
Thank you again
for talking to us. - (Dr. Jones) Great, thanks.
Thank you.