TY - JOUR PY - 2024// TI - Providers' experiences and perspectives in treating patients with co-occurring opioid and stimulant use disorders in the hospital JO - Substance use and addiction journal A1 - Shearer, Riley D. A1 - Hernandez, Edith A1 - Beebe, Timothy J. A1 - Virnig, Beth A. A1 - Bart, Gavin A1 - Winkelman, Tyler N. A. A1 - Bazzi, Angela R. A1 - Shippee, Nathan D. SP - ePub EP - ePub VL - ePub IS - ePub N2 - BACKGROUND: The overdose crisis is increasingly characterized by opioid and stimulant co-use. Despite effective pharmacologic treatment for both opioid use disorder (OUD) and contingency management for stimulant use disorders, most individuals with these co-occurring conditions are not engaged in treatment. Hospitalization is an important opportunity to engage patients and initiate treatment, however existing hospital addiction care is not tailored for patients with co-use and may not meet the needs of this population.

METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with hospital providers about their experiences and perspectives treating patients with opioid and stimulant co-use. We used directed content analysis to identify common experiences and opportunities to improve hospital-based treatment for patients with co-use.

RESULTS: From qualitative interviews with 20 providers, we identified 4 themes describing how co-use complicated hospital-based substance use treatment: (1) patients' unstable circumstances impacting the treatment plan, (2) co-occurring withdrawals are difficult to identify and treat, (3) providers holding more stigmatizing views of patients with co-use, and (4) stimulant use is often "ignored" in the treatment plans. Participants also described a range of potential opportunities to improve hospital-based treatment of co-use that fall into 3 categories: (1) provider practice changes, (2) healthcare system changes, and (3) development and validation of clinical tools and treatment approaches.

CONCLUSIONS: We identified unique challenges providing hospital addiction medicine care to patients who use both opioids and stimulants. These findings inform the development, implementation, and testing of hospital-based interventions for patients with co-use.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 2976-7342 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/29767342231221060 ID - ref1 ER -