Stewarding Recovery from the Opioid Crisis Through Health System Initiatives

As the consequences of liberal opioid prescribing have become apparent, efforts to address the role of the health care system in supporting more balanced opioid use and the prevention and treatment of opioid use disorder have increased. Developing a unified and multidisciplinary approach can lead to...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jeanmarie Perrone, Scott G. Weiner, Lewis S. Nelson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: eScholarship Publishing, University of California 2019-02-01
Series:Western Journal of Emergency Medicine
Online Access:https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5kk234t3
Description
Summary:As the consequences of liberal opioid prescribing have become apparent, efforts to address the role of the health care system in supporting more balanced opioid use and the prevention and treatment of opioid use disorder have increased. Developing a unified and multidisciplinary approach can lead to an integrated care model that emphasizes primary prevention, harm reduction, and transition to life-sustaining treatment while also maintaining attentiveness to effective pain management. A model for this, which follows the nomenclature in proscribing antimicrobial use, is the development of an opioid stewardship program. Such programs allow for the integration of diverse perspectives and new mandates and uses a patient-centered approach with an iterative evaluation process. We describe a group of adoptable efforts that have been utilized successfully at our institutions and may be adapted and optimized to the needs and resources of other hospitals and health care systems.
ISSN:1936-9018