Pain, Pain Go Away: What Would Dr. House Say?

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With the ability to e-Prescribe controlled substances soon to be a widespread reality in the U.S., pain medication management is currently a discussion “hot topic” among many clinicians. Hospital staff members at University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro (UMCPP)—the former stomping ground of Dr. Gregory House—are no exception. In need of a major floor plan facelift a few years ago, the UMCPP team visited the design drawing board to revamp patient rooms. What they came away with was a mock hospital room to test with real patients. Complete with a guest sofa, outdoor view, novel drug dispensary, and easy-to-access restroom, this hospital room became an evaluation site for patients recovering from knee and hip replacements. Healthcare professionals at UMCPP hoped that this new layout would reduce slip-and-fall accidents, medication mix-ups, and other hospital-related mishaps.

Compared to the old hospital rooms, patients staying in the mock room rated food and nursing care higher, although meals and care were the same. The most compelling results? Patients asked for 30 percent LESS pain medication in the mock room. According to many medical professionals, reduced pain is thought to lead to shorter recovery time, reduced hospital stays, and lower hospital costs.

What were once premature and isolated statistics are now a success for UMCPP. The mock patient room became a reality in 2012, when UMCPP opened its new $523 million, 636,000 square-foot hospital in Plainsboro, New Jersey. Since the grand and much-needed opening, patient satisfaction ratings have been in the 99^th percentile—a major leap from the 61^st percentile prior to the move. With infection rates at an all-time low, UMCPP will keep improving hospital care—and dispensing less pain meds.

Sources: The New York Times and HC+O

For more details on UMCPP’s innovative patient rooms, check out a floor plan here, in the New York Times’ recent article.

To see a list of top U.S. hospitals that are tackling the issue of pain management, check out Becker’s Hospital Review here.

About DoseSpot

DoseSpot is a Surescripts™ certified e-Prescribing platform specifically designed to integrate with electronic health record, electronic dental record, practice management and telehealth software. DoseSpot has provided simple, affordable and integratable e-Prescribing solutions to healthcare IT companies since 2009. For more information, please visit www.DoseSpot.com.