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Opioid Sparing and Pain Management: Some Ideas From the AANA

American Association of Nurse Anesthetists Advances Multimodal, Communications Intensive Approach to Pain Care

In a news release yesterday, the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) issued a call for healthcare providers to engage opioid sparing techniques for pain management as a constructive response to the crisis of opioid abuse, misuse, and diversion. AANA president Bruce Weiner, CNRA, said “The American opioid crisis is one of the most pressing healthcare issues of our time, and more than ever the healthcare community needs to come together to modernize opioid-prescribing criteria and utilize more effective, evidence based solutions to pain management practices, to help prevent opioid addiction.”

A specific initiative being advanced by the AANA is Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS), described as a patient centered, evidence based approach to pain management that can limit reliance on opioids and improve patient outcomes while reducing costs. An infographic describing ERAS details a “pain management pathway” in which providers, patients, and caregivers engage at the preadmission, preoperative, intraoperative, postoperative and postdischarge stages to communicate, educate, and employ nonopioid approaches to pain management. The AANA cites benefits from the use of ERAS that include 3 to 4 day average reduction in patient length of hospitalization, reduced 30-day patient readmission rates, and average cost savings of $880 to $5,560 per patient.

Read more about the AANA initiative.

Access the AARA infographic on ERAS here.

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