Dignity Health | Be well | Spring 2018

PAIN MANAGEMENT PAIN RELIEF without pills The ON-Q system is a smart alternative to narcotics after surgery When Greg Eastman needed his left knee joint replaced, he learned his medical team at Mercy Medical Center Mt. Shasta (MMCMS) could treat his post-op pain without relying on strong narcotic drugs. That sounded good to Greg, a high school music teacher who injured his knee 40 years ago playing high school football. He’d had unpleas- ant reactions to narcotic painkillers after previous knee surgeries. This time he hoped to avoid the nausea and foggy feeling. To do that, Greg would use the ON-Q Pain Relief System. During surgery, a small tube was inserted into the thigh above his knee. It was attached to a lightweight pump that could release numbing medi- cine directly to the area around his knee after surgery and in the days that followed. “What the ON-Q provided me was that really positive, pain-free start so that I knew it was going to be OK,” Greg says. “I was going to get through this and be better than I had been for several years.” Targeted relief, fast recovery MMCMS recently began using ON-Q for many types of surgery. Unlike narcotic pain relief, which affects the whole body and the brain, ON-Q targets only the surgi- cal site. It’s similar to the kind of numbing shot you might get at a dentist’s office—only it’s capable of delivering continuous pain relief. Nursing Director Elizabeth Pulatie, CRNA, first became familiar with this type of pain relief while serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq. With ON-Q, pain is better controlled, Pulatie says. So patients often need less narcotic medicines, such as opioids, after surgery. Among the benefits: A smoother re-entry. “By and large, people aren’t waking up from surgery all groggy and out of sorts,” Pulatie says. A quicker recovery. Because they wake up alert, many people go home earlier. “And they’re able to perform physical therapy exercises a lot sooner because they’re not overly sedated,” Pulatie adds. Fewer side effects. Because narcotics affect the whole body, they can cause problems such as nausea, constipation, itching, and breathing trouble. Less risk of addiction. ON-Q’s targeted nerve block doesn’t provide any kind of high that might lead to addiction. Stopping opioid overuse Since using ON-Q, MMCMS has significantly reduced the need for narcotics in the operating and recovery rooms, Pulatie says. It’s in part a response to the nation’s deadly opioid epidemic. “We’re doing this because we feel like it’s the best thing for our patients,” Pulatie says. “This is one of the ways we’re trying to prevent opioid abuse and addiction issues.” ON-Q may not entirely eliminate the need for other pain medicines. But you may need less of them to control your pain. That appealed to Mt. Shasta resident Robin Winters, who used the ON-Q pump after hip surgery at MMCMS last spring. Robin—an avid runner 12 FORE! Greg Eastman is back to the life he loves, pain-free.