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.
HHS, CDC commit opioid funding grant money to public health based models for combating the crisis
Paramedic Natalie Harris shares her experience with post-traumatic stress, overdose and addiction, stemming from a disturbing call
Initiative aims to save lives, reduce illegal and prescription drug misuse, improve overdose and early interventions to treatment and recovery through education
He will be sentenced to a year in jail and five years probation after hitting a pedestrian with a pickup truck with a snowplow blade attached
The drug, largely used to save heroine overdose victims, will be distributed to EMTs at 47 statewide agencies as part of a one-year trial
Her teenage daughter was found dead after her ex-husband called 911
He’s not drunk, he’s having a stroke; use these tips to make sure the patient, not the suspect, receives proper care
Does a patient’s skin color affect how EMS manages pain?
This medication is notorious as a street drug and with good reason
Regardless of how good your intentions are, yelling “Calm Down!” in someone’s ear never, ever helps
Setting up a media event to announce your drunk driving prevention effort is actually easier than you’d expect
Atomized nasal medications, like naloxone or fentanyl, absorb directly into the brain and CSF via olfactory mucosa
From vampires to voodoo priests, here are some spooky calls we hope you never have to handle
The drug we use most often in EMS can cause harm if we give it without good reason
Learn the role emergency responders play in treating and transporting patients who call 911 for help
What does vitamin B1 deficiency mean in the prehospital environment?
What is the motivation behind the police asking alcohol intoxicated people to choose jail or the emergency department?
Every EMT, paramedic, caregiver and parent needs to program the poison control number into their smartphone’s contacts
Learn about Hydrocodone’s drug profile, proper doses, potential side effects and how it affects your patients.
Just because you are trained and authorized to give a drug, doesn’t mean you should give that drug
A combination of history findings, scene clues and EKG interpretation skills help paramedics quickly identify a TCA overdose
What’s your assessment and care for a suicidal patient who has ingested a mix of alcohol and medications?
Analysis of more than 150,000 emergency room visits found differences in prescribing by race and ethnicity for every type of pain
