'Groundbreaking' pilot project at Thunder Bay hospital aims to curb opioid prescription rates

A northwestern Ontario hospital is employing a new tool, which aims to address high rates of opioid addiction by stemming the rate of prescription.

The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre which serves a city grappling with overdose rates significantly higher than the provincial average will be the first hospital in Ontario to make use of new softwareto guide doctors as they make decisions about pain management.

"This is groundbreaking," said Dr. Gordon Porter, chief of staff at the hospital, of the pilot project, which the provincial government is supporting.

"What we have developed is an attempt to try and begin a process of looking at the opioidproblems in a bigger context, from a more system-wide context."

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The software works by allowing doctors to access standardized "digital order sets," which contain recommendations for treatments and carefor various procedures.

Pain management options, alternatives

The information guides physicians as they make decisions for individual patientswho have undergone surgery.

It will alsooffer "a full breadth of options"for pain management, and reminddoctors of alternatives to some of the most problematicmedications, said Sachin Aggarwal, the CEO of Think Research, which designed the software.

"So you're trying to make sure that clinicians are first considering each of the less strong, less addictive methods of pain management, before you go to something that might be stronger like opioids or some of the stronger opioids that are available on the market."

Alternatives to opioidsmight include regional anaesthetic nerve blockers for extremity surgeries, "and various combinations of more conventional medications such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication," Porter said.

A team at the Thunder Bay hospital will testthe order sets over the next six months, after which the tool can be customized for use in other Ontario hospitals.

The project is viewed as a priority by leaders at the hospital, said Porter, where it's acknowledged that the problems related to patients suffering from addiction are "immense."

"I think that we could look at our addicted patients and if they have opioid addictions, look at a different way of caring for them. This is just one step in that direction."