A novel social work approach to emergency department buprenorphine induction and warm hand-off to community providers

Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) is considered gold standard treatment for persons with an opioid use disorder and can be successfully initiated in emergency departments (EDBUP). Perceived provider barriers to EDBUP adoption include increased provider work, lack of provider knowledge about outpatient MOUD resources, and a lack of viable MOUD treatment options within health systems. We evaluated the feasibility of a novel EDBUP institutional design that utilizes the social work team to drive ED care for patients with OUD and coordinate MOUD referral to existing community resources.
Source: The American Journal of Emergency Medicine - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Source Type: research