MMH joins state effort to combat opioid crisis

    Melissa Memorial Hospital has joined the Colorado ALTO Project to reduce the administration of opioids in the hospital’s emergency department.
    MMH’s goal is to improve pain management for its patients and return them to a maximum quality of life while also recognizing and controlling the inherent risks of prescribing highly addictive medications like opioids.
    MMH’s clinicians are dedicated to understanding and responding appropriately to their patients’ physical and emotional symptoms of pain, in addition to taking steps to help the community combat the ongoing opioid epidemic.
    This project implements components from the 2017 Opioid Prescribing and Treatment Guidelines developed by the Colorado chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians in MMH’s emergency department. These guidelines include using alternatives to opioids (ALTOs) as a first line of defense in treating patients with painful conditions before resorting to opioids.

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