There is evidence to support the effectiveness of NSP in reducing the transmission of HIV among PWID, although it is likely that other harm reduction interventions have also contributed to the observed reduction in HIV risk. NSP should be considered as just one component of a programme of interventions to reduce both injecting risk and other types of HIV risk behaviour.
Objective: The objective of the present study is to examine variations in paramedic care of the agitated patient, including verbal de-escalation, physical restraint and sedation, provided by ambulance services in Australia and New Zealand.
PWID use EDs at a higher rate than the general population, and typically present with injuries and mental and behavioral disorders. Referrals to drug treatment, mental health, and social support services can improve patient care and reduce the burden on EDs.
BackgroundDrug overdose is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity amongst people who inject drugs (PWID). Drug overdose surveillance typically relies on the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) coding system, however its real world utilisation and the implications for surveillance have not been well characterised. This study examines the patterns of ICD-10 coding pertaining to drug overdoses within emergency departments for a cohort of known PWID.MethodsCohort data from 688 PWID was linked to statewide emergency department administrative data between January 2008 and June 2013. ICD-10 diagnostic codes pertaining to poisonings by drugs, medicaments and biological substances (T-codes T36-T50) as well as mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use (F-codes F10-F19) were examined.ResultsThere were 449 unique ED presentations with T or F code mentions contributed by 168 individuals. Nearly half of the T and F codes used were non-specific and did not identify either a drug class (n = 160, 36%) or clinical reaction (n = 46, 10%) and 8% represented withdrawal states. T and F codes could therefore be used to reasonably infer an illicit drug overdose in only 42% (n = 188) of cases. Majority of presentations with T or F overdose codes recorded only one diagnostic code per encounter (83%) and representing multiple-drug overdose (F19.- = 18%) or unidentified substances (T50.9 = 17%) using a single, broad diagnostic code was common.ConclusionsReliance on diagnoses alone when examining ED data will likely significantly underestimate incidence of specific drug overdose due to frequent use of non-specific ICD-10 codes and the use of single diagnostic codes to represent polysubstance overdose. Measures to improve coding specificity should be considered and further work is needed to determine the best way to use ED data in overdose surveillance.
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