OSU Medical Center is putting its emergency room on the front lines of fighting addiction.
Patients coming in for opioid withdrawal will be administered a medication that alleviates their symptoms and helps curb drug cravings. When they’re discharged, they’ll have a follow-up appointment to continue medication-assisted addiction treatment.
"Opioid withdrawal is one of the most miserable experiences you’ll ever go through in your life, and it’s one of the most high-risk periods for people who use opioids. That’s when they go to heroin, that’s when they commit crimes, that’s when they overdose," said OSU Psychiatry Chair Dr. Jason Beaman.
Patients in withdrawal from prescription opioids, fentanyl or even heroin will be given buprenorphine. Beaman said it’s possible people will skip that appointment and end up in the ER again, but they won’t be turned away, no matter how many times they return.
"It probably is going to take a few times for people to access this care before they actually enter into a treatment program, and that’s OK. It takes people several times to quit smoking before they actually do," Beaman said.
Beaman said a past patient was moved to tears when he told her they could ease her pain and start her on the road to recovery by giving her a dose of medication.
"I had the impression that no one had approached her with such hassle-free, judgement-free treatment for her brain disease before. So, we’re very, very optimistic this will actually save lives," Beaman said.
Medication-assisted treatment is recognized as the most effective way to treat opioid addiction.
