Perhaps 100 young people may be prescribed opioid pain killers for extracts wisdom teeth or a broken bone and only a handful may feel a strong pull of addiction after a single pill. The problem is we do not know who that vulnerable handful is. That is why prevention of exposure is important. It does not mean prohibition of opioids, but it does mean innovations in pain management that avoid opioids when possible.
The opioid epidemic has a silver lining. It engaged the medical community in solution. All medical specialties have been activated in the issue of addiction and pain. And the medical community is rallying – with solutions and innovation in managing pain better with less addiction.
Alexis M. LaPietra, DO, FACEP
Dr. Alexis LaPietra is System Chief for Pain Management and Addiction Medicine as well as the Fellowship Director of the Emergency Medicine Pain Management Fellowship and Emergency Medicine Addiction Medicine Fellowship at St Joseph’s Health in NJ. She created the St Joseph’s Health Alternatives to Opioids (ALTO SM) program and founded the Pain Management/Addiction Medicine Section of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). She has been involved in multiple national educational initiatives with ACEP and is the current Chair for the PACED (Pain and Addiction Care in the ED) Accreditation Program.
In 2016 she received the Emergency Care Innovation of the Year Award from G.W. University Center for Healthcare Innovation as well as the American College of Osteopathic Emergency Physicians Practice Innovation Award. Dr. LaPietra’s work has been highlighted in The Annals of Emergency Medicine, NPR, NBC, The New York Times, Fox News, and CNN. Her work was the basis for the “ALTO in the ED Act,” part of the legislation included in the H.R.6- SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act signed into law by President Trump in October 2018.
