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.
The Best Documentary Short Subject nominee follows three women who are fighting the opioid epidemic in Huntington, West Virginia
Educating patients about alternate forms of pain management could stem the tide of opioid overdoses
The “public safety president” can use the bully pulpit to do much, much more for EMS and other public safety personnel
Police investigate possibility that Fentanyl was mixed with heroin to increase potency
Ten Wesleyan students and two visitors overdosed on the synthetic party drug; at least two are in critical condition
A rapid rise in heroin overdoses has caused higher demand for the drug
Helping other alcoholics helps me and I have helped countless alcoholics while tending my own disease
Card’s simple message of ‘Your Life Matters’ is non-confrontational and includes a list of phone numbers to get help
Wisconsin EMS Association half-day workshop educates EMRs, EMTs and AEMTs to assess an opioid overdose and administer naloxone
Narcan manufacturer made similar agreement in N.Y.; Cost of Narcan has increased nearly 100 percent in 2 years
Wider distribution and increases in opiate use has led to more demand for the drug used to treat an overdose
Since arrests came before new DWI policy, he will not be terminated from the department
Sometimes slower (and more deliberate) adoption of medical procedures may be better
He says a report filed about the incident was wrong, and everything he did was “to protocol, policy and procedures”
The cost of the drug skyrocketed from $7 per bottle in 2014 to $98 per bottle in 2015
Heroin laced with fentanyl is especially potent and health officials see increase in suspected drug overdose deaths
After firefighters freed the man from the wreckage, he started to fight them; that’s when police subdued him
Patient’s home surveillance footage shows EMT putting a pill bottle in his pocket
It never occurred to me that the voice over my radio was anything but annoying to my patients, never mind someone’s salvation
The demand for the drug to counteract a heroin overdose is on the rise, which is driving up expenses for EMS
Careful assessment is important for EMS since alcohol poisoning kills six people in the U.S. each day; most deaths occur among middle-aged adults
The situation has caused the state Department of Health to issue a standing policy under which ambulance companies can seek to use expired emergency medications during a critical shortage
After 1 year of having naloxone in tool kit fire department reports regular usage for narcotics overdoses
Man appeared to be intoxicated; became violent as he was loaded into ambulance
A 17-year-old fled the scene and was later arrested
Our training doesn’t prepare us to make diagnosis of ‘assumption’ of alcohol intoxication
Sheriff’s officer alleges paramedic and ER doctor refused proper care to an intoxicated and injured man, saying he needed to “sleep it off”
Injection or instranasal administration of naloxone for narcotics overdose increased in 2014
The Brazilian man was not aware, likely due to shock and alcohol, of the knife lodged just behind his optical nerve for three hours
Man shot with stun gun; heroin found during body search
Ambulance crews summoned to assess ‘spaced out’ people