Emergency department use of persons with comorbid psychiatric and substance abuse disorders

2003 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 659-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey M. Curran ◽  
Greer Sullivan ◽  
Keith Williams ◽  
Xiaotong Han ◽  
Kirsten Collins ◽  
...  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Espi Martinez ◽  
Joaquin Nieto Munuera ◽  
Jose Antonio Noguera Velasco ◽  
Fernando Espi Forcen

Aims. We have retrospectively analyzed the variations in the clinical profile of patients with a positive consumption of alcohol and/or drugs of abuse that have been confirmed and treated in the Emergency Department of a Virgen de La Arrixaca University Hospital in Murcia (Spain) after a period of 10 years. Secondly, we have assessed if the use of urine toxicology screen tests had any influence on the improvement of the management and/or referral of these patients to specialized services from the Emergency Department or at the time of discharge from hospital, regardless of the specialist or service where they had been treated. Method. 415 patients were selected in the year 2000 and 452 in the year 2010 who had tested positive for alcohol and drugs, assessing the reason for consultation, specific symptoms, drug used, record, diagnosis, and patient management. Results. The most frequent reasons for going to the Emergency Department was common illness, mainly psychiatric disorders, and the type of drug taken, alcohol. There were no significant differences between both groups, but approximately 50% of the patients were not referred for treatment of the abuse or dependency. Conclusions. The clinical profession should consider measures to improve detection and referral of patients with substance abuse disorders.


Author(s):  
Tilman Wetterling ◽  
Klaus Junghanns

Abstract. Aim: This study investigates the characteristics of older patients with substance abuse disorders admitted to a psychiatric department serving about 250.000 inhabitants. Methods: The clinical diagnoses were made according to ICD-10. The data of the patients with substance abuse were compared to a matched sample of psychiatric inpatients without substance abuse as well as to a group of former substance abusers with long-term abstinence. Results: 19.3 % of the 941 patients aged > 65 years showed current substance abuse, 9.4 % consumed alcohol, 7.9 % took benzodiazepines or z-drugs (zolpidem and zopiclone), and 7.0 % smoked tobacco. Multiple substance abuse was rather common (30.8 %). About 85 % of the substance abusers had psychiatric comorbidity, and about 30 % showed severe withdrawal symptoms. As with the rest of the patients, somatic multimorbidity was present in about 70 % of the substance abusers. Remarkable was the lower rate of dementia in current substance abusers. Conclusion: These results underscore that substance abuse is still a challenge in the psychiatric inpatient treatment of older people.


2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Andersen ◽  
Rebecca Silver ◽  
Todd Bishop ◽  
Vanessa Tirone ◽  
Paige Ouimette

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