When Dr. Gus Chan was asked to join the Pain Management and Opiate Safety Working Group, he was excited to be able to provide input into promoting regional anesthesia as an alternative to opioids and better pain management procedures. He applied to the South Island Medical Staff Association’s Facility Engagement funding to cover his and his colleagues’ time to attend these meetings, allowing them to participate in shaping various clinical order sets and procedures relating to pain management and opioid use reduction.
Over the past year, Dr. Chan has seen first-hand how much hard work goes into ensuring that clinical order sets are acceptable to all stakeholders. He was grateful to be able to have input in these discussions, saying “it was good to be a part of a group that was making decisions at a higher level”.
The working group has now been elevated to a formal committee in recognition that the work is ongoing and valued. They are tasked with developing a Multi Modal Analgesia Order Set, not only for surgical patients, but for all Island Health patients in general. This is in recognition of the value of using a variety of complimentary pain management strategies including anti-inflammatories and regional anesthesia to reduce the use of opioids.
We congratulate the group on their valuable work and Dr. Chan for his initiative in ensuring physicians have the opportunity to contribute to these important conversations.