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Introduction: With opioid-related deaths reaching epidemic levels, gaining a better understanding of access to treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) is critical. Most studies have focused on 1 side of the equation-either provider capacity or patients' need for care, as measured by overdose deaths. This study examines the overlay between treatment program availability and opioid mortality, comparing accessibility by region. Methods: Geospatial and statistical analyses were used to model OUD treatment programs relative to population density and opioid overdose death incidence at the state and county level. We computed a ratio between program capacity and mortality called the programsper-death (PPD) ratio. Results: There were 40 274 opioid deaths in 2016 and 12 572 treatment programs across the contiguous 48 states, yielding a ratio of 1 program for every 3.2 deaths. Texas had the lowest number of treatment programs per 100 000 persons (1.4) and Maine the highest (13.2). West Virginia ranked highest in opioid deaths (39.09 per 100 000). Ohio, the District of Columbia, and West Virginia had the greatest mismatch between providers and deaths, with an average of 1 program for every 8.5 deaths. Over 32% of US counties had no treatment programs and among those with >10 deaths, nearly 2.5% had no programs. Over 19% of all counties had a ratio 1 provider facility per 10 deaths. Conclusion: Assessing the overlay between treatment capacity and need demonstrated that regional imbalances exist. These data can aid in strategic planning to correct the mismatch and potentially reduce mortality in the most challenged geographic regions.

Cognitive motivation theories contend that individuals have greater readiness for behavioral change during critical periods or life events, and a non-fatal overdose could represent such an event. The objective of this study was to examine if the use of a specialized mobile response team (assertive outreach) could help identify, engage, and retain people who have survived an overdose into a comprehensive treatment program. We developed an intervention, consisting of mobile outreach followed by medication and behavioral treatment, in Houston Texas between April and December 2018. Our primary outcome variables were the level of willingness to engage in treatment, and percent who retained in treatment after 30 and 90 day endpoints. We screened 103 individuals for eligibility, and 34 (33%) elected to engage in the treatment program, while two-thirds chose not to engage in treatment, primarily due to low readiness levels. The average age was 38.2 ± 12 years, 56% were male, 79% had no health insurance, and the majority (77%) reported being homeless or in temporary housing. There were 30 (88%) participants still active in the treatment program after 30 days, and 19 (56%) after 90 days. Given the high rates of relapse using conventional models, which wait for patients to present to treatment, our preliminary results suggest that assertive outreach could be a promising strategy to motivate people to enter and remain in long-term treatment.

Haloperidol as an adjunctive therapy is superior to placebo for acute gastroparesis symptoms.

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Introduction: Hurricanes have increased in severity over the past 35 years, and climate change has led to an increased frequency of catastrophic flooding. The impact of floods on emergency department (ED) operations and patient health has not been well studied. We sought to detail challenges and lessons learned from the severe weather event caused by Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas, in August 2017.Methods: This report combines narrative data from interviews with retrospective data on patient volumes, mode of arrival, and ED lengths of stay (LOS). We compared the five-week peri-storm period for the 2017 hurricane to similar periods in 2015 and 2016.Results: For five days, flooding limited access to the hospital, with a consequent negative impact on provider staffing availability, disposition and transfer processes, and resource consumption. Interruption of patient transfer capabilities threatened patient safety, but flexibility of operations prevented poor outcomes. The total ED patient census for the study period decreased in 2017 (7062 patients) compared to 2015 (7665 patients) and 2016 (7770) patients). Over the five-week study period, the arrival-by-ambulance rate was 12.45% in 2017 compared to 10.1% in 2016 (p < 0.0001) and 13.7% in 2015 (p < 0.0001). The median ED length of stay (LOS) in minutes for admitted patients was 976 minutes in 2015 (p < 0.0001) compared to 723 minutes in 2016 and 591 in 2017 (p < 0.0001). For discharged patients, median ED LOS was 336 minutes in 2016 compared to 356 in 2015 (p < 0.0001) and 261 in 2017 (p < 0.0001). Median boarding time for admitted ED patients was 284 minutes in 2016 compared to 470 in 2015 (p < 0.0001) and 234.5 in 2017 (p < 0.001). Water damage resulted in a loss of 133 of 179 inpatient beds (74%). Rapid and dynamic ED process changes were made to share ED beds with admitted patients and to maximize transfers postflooding to decrease ED boarding times. Conclusion:A number of pre-storm preparations could have allowed for smoother and safer ride-out functioning for both hospital personnel and patients. These measures include surplus provisioning of staff and supplies to account for limited facility access. During a disaster, innovative flexibility of both ED and hospital operations may be critical when disposition and transfer capibilities or bedding capacity are compromised. [

Background: Mortality from overdoses involving opioids in the United States (U.S.) has reached epidemic proportions. More research is needed to examine the underlying factors contributing to opioid-related mortality regionally. This study's objective was to identify and examine the countylevel factors most closely associated with opioid-related overdose deaths across all counties in the U.S. Methods: Using a national cross-sectional ecological study design, we analyzed the relationships between 17 county-level characteristics in four categories (i.e. socio-economic, availability of medical care, health-related concerns, and demographics) with opioid mortality. Data were extracted from the Robert Wood Johnson County Health Rankings aggregate database and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiological Research (WONDER) system. Results: There were 1058 counties (33.67% of 3142 nationally) with reported opioid-related fatalities. Median opioid-related mortality was 15.61 per 100,000 persons. Multivariate regression results indicate that counties with the highest opioid-related mortality had increased rates of tobacco use, HIV, Non-Hispanic Caucasians, and females and were rural areas, but lower rates of food insecurity and uninsured adults. The rates of tobacco use and HIV had the strongest association with mortality. Availability of either mental health or primary care providers were not significantly associated with mortality. Severe housing problems, high school graduation rate, obesity, violent crime, and median household income also did not contribute to county-level differences in overdose mortality. Conclusions: Future health policies should fund further investigations and ultimately address the most influential and significant underlying county-level factors associated with opioid-related mortality.

This study found that only assignment to group 3, initial lactic acid level of ≥ 4 mmol/L, was independently associated with increased mortality after correcting for underlying severity of illness and organ dysfunction. However, rising lactate levels in the other two groups were associated with increased severity of illness and were inversely proportional to prognosis.