Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 27

IIMPROVEMENT / FEATURE
SURGERY RECOVERY
NO OPIOIDS, NO PAIN
FOR THE LAST FEW
decades, routine
administration of opioid
medications during
surgery has been
considered standard
practice. While opioids
are effective at relieving
pain, they have many
side effects ranging from
mild (itching, nausea,
constipation) to severe
(respiratory depression).
Despite advances in
regional anesthesia
techniques that can
produce numbness over
practically any surgical
site, opioids have been
impossible to displace-
until now.
In 2018, spurred by a
national opioid shortage,
the anesthesiology
team at the surgery
center, led by Lynn
Martin, M.D., used data
to transition away from
opioid-based protocols
for adenotonsillectomy,
one of their most painful
surgeries. This shift was
possible because the
team could see it was
not merely a change
in practice but also
in improved patient
outcomes-it had
already resulted in a
five-times reduction in
postoperative nausea
and vomiting, the most
common complication.
By eliminating opioids
from this surgery, they
eliminated the greatest
safety risk to high-risk
patients, respiratory
depression after surgery.
Many of these patients
could now be safely cared
for as outpatients rather
than requiring overnight
hospital admission.
Just six months later,
all ambulatory surgeries
were successfully
performed without
opioids. This included
surgeries across many
surgical specialties,
such as otolaryngology,
general surgery,
urology, ophthalmology,
plastics, dental and even
orthopedics. Even though
physicians often hesitate
to abandon established
practices for new ones,
the team's ability to use
observable data allowed
them to confidently
change, knowing it
was better for patient
care. Today at Seattle
Children's, over 98% of
ambulatory surgeries
and over 50% of inpatient
surgeries are performed
without the need for
opioid medications. To
date, over 40,000 patients
have successfully had
surgery without opioids.
BY THE NUMBERS
98%
ambulatory
surgeries
with no opioids
50%
inpatient
surgeries
with no opioids
40,000
patients recovered
without opioids
Learn what differentiates
their process, method or
technique.
Replicate the process,
method or technique across
the organization.
Manage and measure
the data that matters for
continual refinement.
CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS TODAY Spring 2023
27

Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023

Contents
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - Cover1
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - Cover2
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - Contents
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 2
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 3
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 4
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 5
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 6
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 7
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 8
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 9
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 10
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 11
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 12
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 13
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 14
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 15
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 16
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 17
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 18
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 19
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 20
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 21
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 22
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 23
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 24
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 25
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 26
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 27
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 28
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 29
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 30
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 31
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 32
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - Cover3
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_fall_2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_summer_2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_spring_2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_winter_2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_fall_2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_summer_2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_spring_2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_winter_2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_fall_2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_2018spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_2018winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_2017fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_2017summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_2017spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_2017winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_2016fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_2016summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_2016spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_2016winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_2015fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_2015summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_2015spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_2015winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_2014fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_2014summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cha/cht_2014spring
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