Alexis LaPietra, DO: Alternatives As Efficacious As Opiates

At PAINWeek 2016, Alexis LaPietra, DO, St. Joseph's Medical Center, talked about her experience in the emergency room showed her evidence that indicated alternative options to opiates.

She and her chairman had identified five such conditions: renal colic, musculoskeletal pain, lumbar radiculopathy, migraine headache, and extremity fracture dislocation. To treat these conditions, LaPietra and her team created an algorithm part of a program called 'Alternates to Opiates'. LaPietra stressed that the goal is not to avoid opiates for all conditions, nor are they anti-opiate. But the belief, LaPietra said, "Opiates are not the first line for every condition; they should not be reflexively prescribed, let's try to utilize alternatives whenever possible. Of course we can always use opiates as a second line."