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VIDEO: Benefits, challenges of psychiatric intervention programs implemented in ED

ATLANTA — Jack Rozel, MD, MSL, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh and medical director of re:solve Crisis Network, explains how emergencies, particularly those related to addiction, affect psychiatric practice.

“At this point we are seeing more deaths in the United States every year due to drug overdose and drug intoxication than we see from suicide and homicide combined,” Rozel told Healio.com/Psychiatry. “At the same time we’ve seen relatively little movement in new non-pharmacologic treatments for addictions. Despite the explosive use of immediate antidotes like naloxone kits, we’re also seeing relatively little follow-up after a person hits the emergency department.”

Some of the best opportunities to intervene or mitigate risks associated with drug use occur following emergency-related crises, according to Rozel.

Rozel discusses benefits and challenges of emergency intervention programs.