Trends in Substance Use Disorder-Related Emergency Department Visits in California: An Analysis of 46 Million Visits From 2006 to 2011.

Introduction: To better understand the development of the growing opioid crisis in the early 21st century, the authors studied trends in substance use disorder among 46,132,211 emergency department (ED) visit discharges in California between 2006 and 2011.

Methods: Utilizing the California State Emergency Department Database, the authors identified substance use based on International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes. Tabular and multivariable analysis methods were applied.

Bystanders Saving Lives with Naloxone: A Scoping Review on Methods to Estimate Overdose Reversals.

Introduction: People who use drugs in community settings are at risk of a fatal overdose, which can be mitigated by naloxone administered via bystanders. In this study we sought to investigate methods of estimating and tracking opioid overdose reversals by community members with take-home naloxone (THN) to coalesce possible ways of characterizing THN reach with a metric that is useful for guiding both distribution of naloxone and advocacy of its benefits.

Methods: We conducted a scoping review of published literature on PubMed on August 15, 2022, using PRISMA-ScR protocol, for articles discussing methods to estimate THN reversals in the community.

A Qualitative Exploration of the Potential Role of Using Online Social Media Support Communities to Increase Initiation of Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD).

Objectives: This study sought to explore the potential role of peer-led online communities to increase use of medications for opioid use disorder.

Methods: From January through March 2020, participants with opioid use disorder and their family members/friends were recruited from paid Facebook ads; public health key stakeholders were recruited from referrals from the study team and opioid experts. Thirty participants from California were interviewed; 23 persons reporting opioid misuse, 3 family members/friends of persons misusing opioids, and 4 public health key stakeholders.

Opioid prescription patterns in a children's hospital from 2012 to 2016.

Study Objective: Pain management is a widely discussed topic, especially in the setting of the current opioid epidemic. Previous studies have shown that the use of opioids increased in the adult population. We aimed to look at the use of narcotic and non-narcotic pain medications at a large pediatric hospital to discern if patterns of pediatric pain management changed over time.

Why is naloxone prescription not more common in emergency departments? A survey of physician practices and attitudes.

Objective: Emergency physicians (EPs) have a singular opportunity to prescribe naloxone and decrease fatal overdoses in opioid users. We surveyed EPs patterns of naloxone prescription and identified barriers to prescribing naloxone.

Design: Surveys were conducted at an emergency medicine conference from 2018 to 2019.