The American journal of emergency medicine
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Observational Study
Alternatives to opioids for pain management in the emergency department decreases opioid usage and maintains patient satisfaction.
The objective of this study was to assess opioid use in an emergency department following the development and implementation of an alternative to opioids (ALTO)-first approach to pain management. The study also assessed how implementation affected patient satisfaction scores. ⋯ In conclusion, by using an ALTO-first, multimodal treatment approach to pain management, participating clinicians were able to significantly decrease the use of IV opioids in the emergency department. Patient satisfaction scores remained unchanged following implementation.