4. Mental health and addictions
- Date: 2024-10-25
- Concurrent Session: Concurrent Session F
- Time: 11:15 am- 12 pm
- Room:
- Style: Presentation (information provided to audience, with opportunity for audience to ask question)
- Focus: Practical (e.g. Presentation on how to implement programs and/or practices in the team environment)
- Target Audience: Clinical providers
Learning Objectives:
Participants will learn:
- Describe the services offered at rapid access addiction medicine (RAAM) clinics, how to find RAAM clinics, and how to facilitate connections to RAAM clinics.
- Effectively use members of the health care team to support transitions of care and collaborative care with RAAM clinics for patients who use substances.
- Discuss the indications and major considerations for four key medications for substance use prescribed in primary care: naltrexone, acamprosate, gabapentin, and buprenorphine.
Summary/Abstract:
Alcohol and opioid use disorders are very common among primary care patients and associated with significant morbidity and mortality, but many primary care providers do not feel comfortable managing these conditions. Rapid access addiction medicine (RAAM) clinics are part of a continuum of services and supports for people who use substances, providing low-barrier, drop-in care without requiring appointments or referrals. Access to psychosocial and medication-assisted treatment for substance use concerns are available at the first visit. RAAM clinics are intended to be part of an integrated care pathway that facilitates connections and promotes smooth transitions among primary care, withdrawal management, hospitals, mental health services, social services, and cultural services. This presentation will help primary care providers support their patients in accessing RAAM clinics when appropriate; understand what to expect from a RAAM clinic; recognize the continuum of harm-reduction approaches to substance use; and work collaboratively to support transitions of care between RAAM clinics, primary care, hospital-based services, and specialized programs. Participants will develop an understanding of the roles of different members of the care team (RN, prescriber, pharmacist, counsellor, admin) in providing continuity and support for people who use substances, and recognize the major issues associated with common medications used to treat alcohol and opioid use disorders: naltrexone, acamprosate, gabapentin, and buprenorphine.
Presenter:
- Jennifer Wyman MD FCFP DABAM MPH, META:PHI Clinical Programs Lead META:PHI, Women's College Hospital
- Katie Dunham NP, META:PHI Nursing Educator META:PHI