Routine and coordinated treatment of opioid abuse can stem the national epidemic – ScienceDaily



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To help stem the nationwide opioid epidemic and the related increases in HIV, hepatitis C, and other infections, caregivers Health care should regularly screen and treat patients for opioid abuse when they come to clinics and hospitals. of five recommendations described in a paper published in Annals of Internal Medicine . The paper supports a newly published document that describes the proceedings of a workshop of March 12, 2018 convened on the subject by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine

"Treatment Can Save lives, "said one of the authors. , Todd Korthuis, MD, MPH "The national opioid epidemic may change if we accept opioid use disorder as a chronic disease that requires treatment rather than a moral or emotional problem. the result of a weak will. "

Korthuis, Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine) and Geriatrics) and Chief of Addiction Medicine at the OHSU School of Medicine, also participated in the national academy workshop and reviewed the resulting procedural document. He co-authored the paper with Sandra A. Springer, MD, of the Yale School of Medicine and Carlos del Rio, MD, of the Emory University School of Medicine, who have both participated in the workshop.

One of the many disastrous consequences of the opioid epidemic: more people are turning to injecting drug use after stopping their opioid prescriptions, which resulted in increased infections of the skin, joints, blood, bones and more. These serious infections require lengthy and expensive hospital treatment, but most hospital staff do not routinely tackle the root cause: addiction.

OHSU is one of the few American hospitals that regularly examines and treats patients who abuse opioids. to OHSU for other services. The treatment of opioid use disorders at OHSU is initiated by a new service called IMPACT, or addiction-enhancing care team, in which physicians, social workers, mentors, and nurses work together. other people meet with hospital patients for addiction problems. . Honora Englander, MD, badociate professor of medicine (hospital medicine) at the OHSU School of Medicine, presented the IMPACT project at the National Academies Workshop

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Materials Provided by Oregon Health & Science University . Note: Content can be changed in style and length.

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