The following is a summary of “Transitions in care between hospital and community settings for individuals with a substance use disorder: A systematic review,” published in the February 2023 issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence by James et al.

People with a substance use disorder (SUD) have high rates of hospital service utilization, including emergency department (ED) visits and hospital admissions. Because transitioning from a hospital to a community can be difficult, acute care settings present a crucial opportunity to engage patients in addiction care and enhance health outcomes. This article concisely summarizes the research on therapies that improve SUD patients’ transitions from inpatient to outpatient settings. The literature search focused on key phrases linked with transitions in care and SUD. The search was conducted on MEDLINE, CINAHL, and PsychInfo. 

In addition, studies published after 2010 that examined interventions occurring before or during hospital-to-community care transitions that reported post-discharge participation in specialist addiction care and/or readmission to the hospital were included.

Title and abstract screening were undertaken for 2,337 records. The total number of papers that met inclusion criteria was 31, with (n = 8) research focusing on opioid use, 5 on alcohol use, and (n = 18) on polysubstance use. Interventions included pharmacotherapy initiation (n = 7), addiction consult services (n = 9), protocol implementation (n = 3), screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (n = 2), patient navigation (n = 4), case management (n = 1), and recovery coaching (n = 3). Transitions between acute and community care settings present an opportunity to enhance patient engagement, decrease unnecessary hospitalizations and emergency room visits, and save money. Improving the standard of care for people with SUDs will require further study of their long-term health and social outcomes.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376871623000017