Anesthesia providers are often assumed to be involved with the opioid addiction crisis, even though anesthesiologists, unless they are practicing pain management, are not the primary prescribers, Tony Mira, Anesthesia Business Consultants' president and CEO, wrote in a recent blog post.
Those anesthesia providers who do work in pain management, however, are the most likely to prescribe opioids for their patients, according to Mr. Mira. Subsequently, there has been a shift toward pain management without opioids.
Some attribute this shift to the increased use of nerve blocks for postoperative pain management. Interscalene, femoral, sciatic and transabdominal plane blocks, for example, are ways anesthesia care is being targeted to the specific needs of patients without using opioids.
Additionally, a new tool, dubbed the Narx score, has been developed for the pain management of patients undergoing surgery, according to Mr. Mira. The score, a three-digit figure that represents the number of controlled substances dispensed, is given to anesthesia providers as a point of reference for the administration of controlled substances.
"As is so often the case, anesthesia is not the source of the problem, but may well play an important role in finding workable solutions," he said.