![Doctors at Akron Children's Hospital have developed guidelines that reduce reliance on prescription painkillers following surgery. [WKSU]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/3226b57/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2048x1536+0+0/resize/840x630!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fimages%2Fnews%2Fnpr%2F2019%2F10%2F770441805_1053669137.jpg)
Akron Children’s Hospital is leading the way in developing national guidelines for prescribing pain medication to children after surgery.
The process has led to a 44% reduction in narcotic prescriptions.
Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Kerwyn Jones says his team developed the new guidelines after looking at prescription practices at five medical centers.
Akron Children's wants to help create national standards for prescription pain medication.
“Not only was there variation between the different groups, but there was also a tremendous variation within each of the five groups," Jones says. "Meaning that if you go to any one of the individual hospitals, what doctor A prescribes for one particular procedure could be very different from what doctor B prescribes for that same procedure.”
Akron Children’s is the first pediatric hospital in America to institute these kind of guidelines. Jones says 90 percent of doctors at Akron Children’s are following them.
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