The emergency departments at Mercy Memorial Hospital and Springfield Regional Medical Center have established new guidelines for treating chronic pain patients, including a restriction on opiates or sedative medications.

“The care and safety of our patients is our top priority,” said Rubeal Mann, MD, Medical Director of the emergency department at Springfield Regional. “This standard of care has been established in their best interest.

“Chronic pain and opiate dependence are best managed through primary care providers and specialists, not emergency departments,” he said. “There are many cases where a patient requests a specific opiate before they’ve even been examined. An opiate isn’t the best way to treat chronic pain. In some cases, it actually makes it worse. We will prescribe the most medically appropriate treatment.”