AUSTIN, Texas —The misuse of opioids across the country and our state is pushing hospitals to assess their role in this public health crisis. St. David's HealthCare doctors who perform different surgeries are now participating in the Enhanced Surgical Recovery program.

“It’s actually starting to come out that it’s more common than we think, that we in the medical field by accident sort of get people launched down that road,” said St. David’s Medical Center anesthesiologist Dr. Erick Allen. “I think we’re getting smarter and saying, ‘We need to sort of watch what we do and minimize that.’” 

The ESR program aims to move medical professionals away from prescribing narcotics and instead emphasizes other areas of treatment, including hydration and nutrition, mobility and education. 

“We want them to have the expectation that, ‘Yes I’m going to participate in the recovery. I’m not going to lay in bed and take painkillers for five days. I’m actually going to be getting up.’” Dr. Allen said. 

Doctors told St. David’s patient Marty Martinez, 52, to move around after he got hip replacement surgery earlier this year. Martinez is an avid golfer who had to quit playing months ago. 

“I play golf every Saturday and Sunday and sometimes on Fridays, but it got to the point where it was too painful to play golf,” Martinez said. 

He had his surgery in April, and said after four weeks he returned to the course. Now, Martinez said he is back to playing at least 36 rounds every week. 

“It’s emotional to talk about because, you know, the doctor gave me a whole new lease on life,” Martinez said. “He gave me life back.”

There are five components to the ESR program: patient education, enhanced nutritional supplementation, multimodal pain control, tighter fluid management and early mobilization. The program will be available at St. David’s HealthCare acute care facilities—St. David’s Medical Center, St. David’s North Austin Medical Center, St. David’s South Austin Medical Center, St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center and St. David’s Georgetown Hospital. 

“Research has shown that adoption of this revolutionary program leads to significant improvements in patient outcomes and patient satisfaction,” Dr. Ken Mitchell, senior vice president and chief medical officer of St. David’s HealthCare, said in a news release. “Anecdotally, we have also noticed that patients feel much more engaged and involved in their recovery.”