The initiative, On the Road with ON-Q: Post-Operative Pain Education
Bus Tour, will function as a mobile classroom, and will travel to 36
hospitals across the United States. Each session will feature a surgeon,
anesthesiologist and administrator discussing their experience in pain
management and with the ON-Q, I-Flow's elastomeric pain relief pump that
administers an automatic and continuous, regulated flow of local
anesthetic through a specially designed catheter to the surgical site
area. At certain sessions, a patient treated with ON-Q will be available
to answer questions.
Until recently, alternatives for treating post-surgical pain were
limited to powerful narcotics, which may cause undesirable side effects -
including post-operative nausea and vomiting, grogginess and
immunosuppression, and pose the risk of addiction. By reducing the use
of narcotics, with a pain pump, patients are more likely to experience
better pain management and faster recovery times - patients typically go
home an average of 1.1 days sooner than when treated with narcotics
alone and hospitals realize additional cost savings.
"For care providers, acute surgical pain management is an increasingly
important issue, as the negative effects of powerful narcotics have
become further realized," said Chris Barys, General Manager, I-Flow.
"The goal of the mobile classroom is to give clinicians the education
and resources they need to make the most optimal pain management
decisions post-surgery, maintaining the patient's comfort and safety as
the top priority."
The bus, which includes conference room-style seating and is outfitted for video and audio presentations, will be stationed at booth #3478 at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Annual Meeting, March 19-23, 2013 in Chicago, IL.
