Safe and Rational Use of Analgesics: Non-Opioid Analgesics Alternatives to the Use of Narcotics in Emergency Pain Management

Abstract

Clinicians in every setting have been charged with relief of pain as part of their mission as providers. Pain relief has been listed as one of the drivers of patient satisfaction and, in many settings, of reimbursement. Manyhealth care practitioners equate aggressive pain relief with administration of narcotic analgesia. Given the scourge ofnarcotic addiction, and evidence that many patients started on narcotic analgesics in the emergency setting will still betaking narcotics one year later, and may die from narcotic addiction or overdose, the possibility of providing pain reliefwithout the use of narcotics has attained some urgency. There is evidence that patients recognize the tension between providing opioid stewardship and pain management. This may be due to the barrage of news on an almost daily basis regarding the opioid epidemic and the number of deaths attributable to narcotic use, addiction and overdose. The balance between relief of pain and suffering and concern for narcotic abuse and addiction is one which has not been resolved. Patient satisfaction surveys and on-line evaluations of physician care provide further confounding factors.