The fentanyl crisis is prompting medical professionals to re-evaluate how they treat hospital patients experiencing pain. In some cases, they’re trying to avoid the use of synthetic opioids.
Physician Assistant Arianna Campbell has worked for years in emergency and addiction medicine, administering fentanyl to treat acute pain as many hospitals across the country do.
“The way we use fentanyl in a medical setting is much different than what you hear outside of a medical setting, and it works really well,” says Campbell. “We use small amounts of it. It lasts for a short period of time, and it works really quickly.”
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that’s about 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Medical professionals have safely used it for years to treat patients.
But outside hospital walls, the impact of skyrocketing overdose deaths is leading to new thinking including inside emergency rooms, where life and death decisions are made every day.
“We know we over-prescribed, over-administered opioids for a long period of time,” says Campbell.
In 2020, the American Hospital Association established guidelines related to using opioids.
The organization gave us this statement, which says they “increasingly recommend incorporating non-opioid pain management techniques for both acute and chronic pain.”
We spoke with some in the medical field who say alternative options can range from other types of painkillers to more holistic approaches.
Dr. Fahmi Farah works at a hospital in Texas. She says there needs to be a balance – a conversation between physicians and patients to get the best treatment without contributing to the addiction problem happening on the nation’s streets.
“We definitely have to have oversight so that it’s not overused, and we don’t create an epidemic of you know, drug addicts,” said Dr. Farah.
For those like Campbell, on the frontlines of both the E.R. and addiction, the focus remains on safety and choices, while giving patients a voice in their care.
“I’m going to give them a lot of alternatives, a lot of other ways that they can treat their pain,” said Campbell.
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