Substance Use Disorders
This section provides EMS professionals with resources and training focused on identifying, managing and responding to patients with substance use disorders (SUDs). Articles cover recognition of drug and alcohol use in the field, treatment best practices, harm reduction strategies, and the evolving role of EMS in the opioid crisis. Learn how to address provider safety, compassion fatigue and stigma, while improving patient outcomes through evidence-based care and community partnerships.
Training, PPE and scene assessment will minimize the risks of opioid exposure to fire and EMS responders
EMS providers are on the front lines of this epidemic and require up-to-date knowledge on safety risks, patient assessment strategies and opioid overdose treatments
Celebrating those who spend their days and nights helping others when they need help the most during EMS Week 2018
Officials think that heroin laced with fentanyl may be to blame for surge in overdoses; some victims have required multiple doses of naloxone
CVS to sell naloxone without a prescription in 14 states, making the drug as easy to obtain as a tourniquet or fire extinguisher
Paramedics were helping a patient when the car crashed into their parked ambulance
As opioid overdoses rise, more people without medical training will be able to use the drug without a prescription
Three local fire-EMS agencies treated six drug overdoses last week alone
The EMT and volunteer firefighter also struck with his car and killed a 29-year-old pregnant woman in a separate incident
Cardiogenic oscillations (COS) of the capnography waveform match the patient’s heart rate and are caused by pulmonary artery pulsations
Naloxone administration should be the standard for all emergency personnel and it should be available anywhere it will be useful
In the last month, Cabell County EMTs have been attacked four times by overdose patients
The man was driving to work when he hit the 9-month pregnant driver, who was then forced into labor
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the use of synthetic cannabinoids is causing deaths and sending thousands of people to emergency rooms around the country for treatment
Since July there have been 60 spice overdoses, with 15 assaults on medics
The $820,000 grant will help the state educate providers about over-prescribing and patients about abusing those drugs
Police chief says medical personnel, not police officers, should administer the heroin antidote naloxone
Man arrested on DUI charges after speeding through a red light and hitting the minibus
A co-worker alerted management that the medic was administering dilaudid to patients that didn’t need it
Narcotic theft, often by the people entrusted to secure and administer those drugs, is damaging to providers, agencies and communities
Austin-Travis County EMS responded to more than 700 synthetic drug calls in the past three months
Three Wash. firefighters tell investigators they drove the intoxicated man out of town to get him out the sun, away from alcohol, and out of the public eye
Police only need minimal training and equipment to treat patients in cardiac arrest, opiate overdose or severe bleeding
Understand the factors that impact crowd safety and how to prepare your agency for protecting the public at a mass gathering or special event
The company that produces the heroin-fighting medication raised the prices by almost half last year
He consumed 1.5 pounds of the rat poison which releases phosphine gas when it comes into contact with water; Hazmat teams and National Guard provided decon
The Pa. attorney had his legal license revoked after smuggling drugs to a jailed client
After his city suffered 47 overdose deaths in an 18-month period, Lt. Patrick Glynn began to think seriously about the role of cops in treating OD victims
A comprehensive examination of ketamine treatment uses, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, administration routes and dosing
According to the report, flakka caused Jermaine Benjamin to go into a delirium he couldn’t control, leading to death
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