Pain Medications
Orthopaedic Trauma Specialists Narcotic Protocol and Agreement
In order to provide you with the highest quality care, refills are best handled at the time of your visit. We know, however, that this is not always possible. The following prescription policy provides information so that your medication request will receive prompt attention.
Medication will only be filled during normal business hours. Please allow 48 hours or 2 business days for your prescription to be filled. It is the patient’s responsibility to plan accordingly when their prescription medication is running low.
When calling the office for a medication request please be prepared to leave your full name, date of birth, telephone number where you can be reached, current prescription information and the pharmacy name and telephone number. You may also fill out a request online.
Prescription requests should be made before 12 noon. Prescription refills requested after 12 noon will not be considered until the following business day. Please note, requests received on Friday may not be filled until Monday.
We CANNOT take away all of your pain. You will feel pain because of the injury you sustained. Our goal is to manage your pain while your body heals.
Expectation is all postoperative patients should be off narcotics by 6 weeks.
If you were on narcotic pain medication prior to surgery/injury, no narcotic pain prescriptions will be written for you after 3 months postoperatively. You must find another physician to provide the prescriptions. We can assist with referrals to pain management specialists.
Anti-inflammatory medications (including Aleve and Ibuprofen) have been shown to inhibit bone healing. Do NOT take these medications prior to 6 weeks postoperatively. In some instances, a short course of anti-inflammatory medications will be prescribed or recommended to decrease the amount of narcotics you take.
You may supplement your pain prescriptions with Tylenol. You should not exceed greater than 4 grams (4000mg) of Tylenol in a day. This can damage the liver.
No long acting narcotics will be prescribed by this office.
Initial prescription is based on our interpretation of pain of injury/procedure and previous narcotic exposure.
Each successive prescription will be decreased with either dosage or frequency.
Prior to each prescription the NC narcotic database will be checked and if another prescription has been filled by another provider, we will not refill your prescription.
Based on OTA’s Clinical Practice Guidelines for Pain Management in Acute Musculoskeletal Injury (Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma-May 2019) the following regimens will be instituted:
Anti-inflammatory Medications (NSAIDs)
Using products such as Advil (ibuprofen), Aleve (naproxen), Motrin (ibuprofen) for additional pain control during fracture healing can delay and/or prevent the healing response. If you would like to take over the counter (OTC) medication, Tylenol (acetaminophen) is okay. However, some narcotic medications that are given for pain control contain acetaminophen as well. Therefore, you should not exceed more than 4000 mg of Tylenol in a day if you do not have liver disease. Also note that there are many OTC medicines, such as cold medicines and allergy medicines that may contain Tylenol as well. If you have any questions about medications and/or interactions please ask your doctor/PA or your pharmacist.
Refills
If you need a refill on your prescription please call us at (336) 299-0099 or submit a request with the following information:
Your name, date of birth, and address.
What prescription(s) need to be refilled.
How frequently you are taking them.
How many pills you have left.
Your telephone number.