People who use drugs in hospital settings: ‘Moving towards a person‐centred harm reduction model’

Abstract

People who use drugs often continue to use drugs while in hospital. However, health‐care systems often expect abstinence from drugs as a condition of engagement in various services. This commentary piece proposes that this approach is inconsistent with the principles of person‐centred care. A harm reduction‐based approach in conjunction with collaboration of people who use drugs is proposed as a model for providing person‐centred care to people who use drugs during hospital‐based treatment.