SPOKANE, Wash. — Health care workers in the Deaconess emergency department now have a new way to treat patients with opioid withdrawal symptoms: long-acting injectable buprenorphine.
The shot can relieve the symptoms that come with opioid withdrawal for days at a time.
“It’s a tiny little needle. It goes into their abdomen,” said Sara Welty, nurse care manager at MultiCare. ”It protects them from overdose. They don’t have cravings. They don’t experience withdrawal, kind of all of the things that allow their brain to quiet down a little bit.”…