AMERSA, Author at AMERSA

The Authors’ Own Words: The Prevalence of HEDIS Initiation and Engagement in Treatment among Patients with Cannabis Use Disorders in Seven U.S. Health Systems

Nov 25, 2019 by AMERSA

The Authors’ Own Words:

We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

The Prevalence of HEDIS Initiation and Engagement in Treatment among Patients with Cannabis Use Disorders in Seven U.S. Health Systems

Constance Weisner, DrPH, MSW; Cynthia I. Campbell, PhD, MPH; Andrea Altschuler, PhD; Bobbi Jo H. Yarborough, PsyD; Gwen T. Lapham, PhD, MPH, MSW; Ingrid A. Binswanger, MD, MPH, MS; Rulin C. Hechter, MD, PhD; Brian K. Ahmedani, PhD, LMSW; Irina V. Haller, PhD, MS; Stacy A. Sterling, DrPH, MSW; Dennis McCarty, PhD; Derek D. Satre, PhD; & Andrea H. Kline-Simon, MS

Substance Abuse Vol. 40, Iss. 3, 2019

“This observational cohort study of 15,202 patients with a cannabis use disorder (CUD) from seven U.S. healthcare systems is the first known study to describe rates of HEDIS-defined alcohol and other drug use disorder (AOD) measures for initiation and engagement in treatment among patients with a newly diagnosed CUD. For these patients, rates of initiation and engagement were low, with considerable variation across index diagnosis setting, AOD comorbidity at index diagnosis, and patient characteristics. Greater adherence to these system-level treatment measures will likely require strong leader and provider partnerships to improve recognition of and linkage to evidence-based treatment for CUD, particularly for those patients with less AOD severity who could still benefit from treatment.“

Substance Abuse journal Volume 40 | Issue 2

Nov 22, 2019 by AMERSA

The Authors’ Own Words for Volume 40, Issue 2 have come to end. We always enjoy reading what the authors have to say about their work and we hope that you do too!

We think that this was a great issue of SAj. If you haven’t read it yet, you still can! Substance Abuse journal, Vol. 40, Iss. 2

The most viewed piece of work in this issue was:

Demystifying buprenorphine misuse: Has fear of diversion gotten in the way of addressing the opioid crisis?

Molly Doernberg BA; Noa Krawczyk BA; Deborah Agus JD; & Michael Fingerhood MD

with 361 views (and counting!)

The Authors’ Own Words: Substance use is independently associated with pneumonia severity in persons living with HIV

Nov 22, 2019 by AMERSA

The Authors’ Own Words:

We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

Substance use is independently associated with pneumonia severity in persons living with HIV

Sarah E. Jolley, MD, MSc & David A. Welsh, MD

Substance Abuse Vol. 40, Iss. 2, 2019

“Our manuscript highlights the impact of illicit drug use on pneumonia severity in people living with HIV/AIDS. It shows that illicit drug use is common and that use of intravenous drugs or inhalational crack/cocaine is associated with increased pneumonia severity. Interestingly, use of marijuana is associated with less severe pneumonia and marijuana use mitigates the negative effect of alcohol on pneumonia risk. Finally, our manuscript describes a significant interaction between patient sex and alcohol use on pneumonia severity with women with an alcohol use disorder experiencing more severe pneumonia. We feel our results will aid in risk stratification of pneumonia patients and highlight a high risk group for targeted hospital-based interventions aimed at addressing addiction.“

The Authors’ Own Words: Use of Online Opioid Overdose Prevention Training for First Year Medical Students: A Comparative Analysis of Online vs In-Person training

Nov 21, 2019 by AMERSA

The Authors’ Own Words:

We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

Use of Online Opioid Overdose Prevention Training for First Year Medical Students: A Comparative Analysis of Online vs In-Person training

Noah Berland, MD, MS; Daniel Lugassy, MD; Aaron Fox, MD, MS; Keith Goldfeld, DrPh; So-Young Oh, MS; Babak Tofighi, MD, MSc; & Kathleen Hanley, MD

Substance Abuse Vol. 40, Iss. 2, 2019

“Using conventional in-person education modalities to adding topics related to substance use disorders to medical school curriculum, or simply expanding training to greater numbers of individuals is challenging and often faculty intensive. In our article we demonstrate that online administered opioid overdose prevention training produced not meaningfully different outcomes from in-person administered opioid overdose prevention training. We believe that this provides evidence of further expanding opioid overdose prevention training by using online training modalities to be less resource intense and more easily disseminated. This article further adds to the new and growing research comparing online and in-person modalities for education.“

The Authors’ Own Words: Harm Reduction Treatment for Smoking (HaRT-S): Findings from a Single-arm Pilot Study with Smokers Experiencing Chronic Homelessness

Nov 21, 2019 by AMERSA

The Authors’ Own Words:

We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

Harm Reduction Treatment for Smoking (HaRT-S): Findings from a Single-arm Pilot Study with Smokers Experiencing Chronic Homelessness

Susan E. Collins, PhD; Lonnie A. Nelson, PhD; Joey Stanton; Nigel Mayberry, RN; Tatiana Ubay, BS; Emily M. Taylor, BS; Gail Hoffmann, BS; Silvi C. Goldstein, BA; Andrew J. Saxon, MD; Daniel K. Malone, MPH; Seema L. Clifasefi, PhD, MSW; Kolawole Okuyemi, MD, MPH; & The HaRT-S Community Advisory Board

Substance Abuse Vol. 40, Iss. 2, 2019

“This study is the first to examine initial feasibility, acceptability and smoking-related outcomes for explicitly harm-reduction counseling for smoking with support of safer nicotine delivery systems, including ENDS. Taken in context with the very few other smoking cessation treatment studies in homeless populations, HaRT-S findings indicated favorable initial feasibility and acceptability in a chronically homeless population. Additionally, participants evinced expected, significant, linear increases in likelihood of point-prevalence abstinence as well as decreases in smoking frequency and dependence on cigarettes over the 14-week follow-up. Participants who reported using ENDS were even more likely to report decreases in smoking intensity and cigarette dependence.“