Caring for addicts
- Season: Season 3
- Posted On:
Improving the standards of care for people with substance use disorders . Last year in the U.S., more than 100,000 people died of drug overdoses. It's a staggering statistic that was unthinkable just a few years ago.
A paper by Dr. Honora Englander and attorney Corey Davis in the New England Journal of Medicine took hospitals and policy-makers to task last month for not doing enough to support and engage people who use drugs and who are hospitalized.
They write, "The United States is in the throes of a decades-long exacerbation of drug-related harm. Hospitals are a key domain for implementing person-first, evidence-based interventions for reducing that harm. Yet despite the obvious need, hospitals have been slow to enact reforms to improve the health of people who use drugs. We believe that systemic reform, led by the federal government, is necessary to mitigate the ongoing crisis of drug-related harm."
In this episode they talk with Seán about current impediments to the best care possible and their vision for improving standards of care nationwide.
Professor of Medicine
Director/PI, Improving Addiction Care Team (IMPACT)
Division of Hospital Medicine
Section of Addiction Medicine in DGIM
Department of Medicine,
Oregon Health & Science University
Portland, Ore.
.
.
Deputy Director, Southeastern Region Office
Director, Harm Reduction Legal Project
Network for Public Health Law
Edina, Minn.
Englander, H. & Davis, C. (Aug. 25, 2022) Hospital standards of care for people with substance use disorder, New England Journal of Medicine, 387:672-675. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp2204687 (N.B. Article is behind paywall, though free access is possible with registration.)
CONTRIBUTORS
- Honora Englander MD
- Corey Davis JD MPHS
- Seán Collins
KEYWORDS
- substance use disorder
- standards of care
- hospital care
- addiction
- trauma-informed care