AUSTIN, Texas -- A new approach to childbirth is helping to reduce dependence on opioids by doctors and their patients.

In partnership with the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin, Seton physicians revised their childbirth protocols in Feb. 2017. They began by changing how they assess pain, which has led to a 40-percent reduction in the use of opioids during and after childbirth.

"Patients are asked not what their pain level is based on a smiley face scale, which is very subjective, but they are asked are they able to get up and go to the bathroom and rest comfortably in bed," said Dr. Amy Young, chair of Women's Health at the Dell Medical School. "The No. 1 cause of accidental maternal mortality within one year of delivery in Texas is drug overdose, and the majority of those deaths involve prescription opiates."

For years, Young said doctors have offered mothers a morphine IV in addition to epidural. However, the new protocols use Tylenol as the primary pain reliever. Morphine is only administered if maximum doses--or therapeutic levels--of Tylenol and other over-the-counter pain relievers are ineffective.

"We can give a lot less of the opioid medication because the Tylenol is at a therapeutic level," said Dr. Chad Dieterichs, an anesthesiologist who helped develop the new protocols.

Jamie Moxham is a mother of two. While her kids are only three years apart, she said their deliveries were night and day. Both childbirths included the administration of epidural. The key difference during the second delivery, she said, was having no morphine or prescription pain killers administered afterward. She said it makes her wish she would've asked more questions to first time.

"In hindsight, I don't know that I would have known to ask, 'Should I really be getting morphine with my Tylenol?' That's just what the treatment plan has been for years," she said.

Moxham noticed the change in approach and the benefits from it. She said her pain was still well-managed. Additionally, she did not have to face the side effects of constipation, which are common with opioids.

"It's an awful feeling to be nervous about a side effect from a medication that's supposed to help you and a medication that you maybe don't even need," Moxham said.

"I think our successes here will be readily picked up and endorsed across the country," Dr. Young said.