From Emergency Medicine News:
The need for compassionate, nonstigmatizing emergency care for substance use disorder, particularly opioid use disorder, has become more important than ever as emergency department visits for opioid-related overdoses continue to increase dramatically—up 28.5 percent in the United States in 2020 compared with the previous two years. (Mayo Clinic. July 26, 2021; https://tinyurl.com/yb77wukn.)
More than 10 million people misused opioids in 2019, and 1.6 million had opioid use disorder, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (https://tinyurl.com/mr2ebjbb.) A recent qualitative analysis from one urban emergency department published last year indicated that interactions with emergency physicians are vital drivers of determining care and service utilization, but they need to be improved across EDs to improve post-overdose care. (BMC Health Serv Res. 2023;23:370; https://tinyurl.com/mrynj6un.)
Researchers with the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, RI, assessed individuals' experience with ED care in a series of semi-structured interviews with 19 participants in a larger randomized controlled trial that evaluated the effectiveness of clinical social workers and certified peer recovery specialists in increasing treatment uptake and reducing opioid overdose rates for people with OUD.
“For most participants, perceived attitudes of providers and hospital staff during care provision were a critical element to shaping their overall ED experience and willingness to seek care in the future,” wrote the investigators, led by Francesca Beaudoin, MD, PhD, a professor of emergency medicine, a professor and the chair of epidemiology, and an academic dean of the school of public health.
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