Perceptions of Emergency Department Nurses on Substance Use Disorders and Supervised Consumption Sites

Aleksandra Ilievska, Faculty of Nursing

Standing

Undergraduate

Type of Proposal

Oral Research Presentation

Challenges Theme

Open Challenge

Faculty Sponsor

Dr. Gina Pittman and Dr. Jody Ralph

Proposal

Background: There have been increased deaths, emergency medical services, emergency department (ED) visits, and hospitalizations due to substance misuse (Government of Canada, 2022; WECHU, 2021; WECHU, 2022b; 2022c). With increasing drug-related harms, a stronger emphasis has been placed on harm reduction strategies such as supervised consumption sites (SCSs) (Kerr et al., 2017).Purpose: People with substance use disorders are among those who make persistent, frequent ED visits in Ontario (Moe et al., 2022). An ED visit has been recognized as an opportunity to improve patient outcomes by identifying those with substance use disorders and connecting them to treatment (Hawk & D’Onofrio, 2018). This study aims to assess ED nurses’ perceptions of substance use disorders and SCSs in Southwestern Ontario.Literature Review: Databases searched include CINAHL, ProQuest, Ovid Medline, PubMed, and Google Scholar using the following keywords: “safe injection site or facility”, “supervised sites”, “safe or supervised consumption sites”, “harm reduction”, “overdose prevention”, “people who use drugs”, “drug use”, “inject*”, “overdose”, “overdose death”, “opioids”, “mortality”, “morbidity”, “substance use or abuse”, “substance use disorder”, “perceptions”, “opinions”, “views”, “attitudes”, 'perspectives', “emergency department or room”, and “nurs*”. Gray literature was also searched. A total of 36 research studies and 22 grey literature sources were included.Methods: Quantitative approach and descriptive design were used. The survey tool was developed in Qualtrics® and deployed electronically to RNs in 6 EDs across 4 Southwestern Ontario hospitals.Results: The final results of this study are pending as data collection is currently ongoing. Conclusion: Knowing the perceptions of ED nurses can help create and enforce harm reduction programs and strategies and help to understand the viewpoints of those providing direct patient care (Shreffler et al., 2021).

Grand Challenges

Viable, Healthy and Safe Communities

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Perceptions of Emergency Department Nurses on Substance Use Disorders and Supervised Consumption Sites

Background: There have been increased deaths, emergency medical services, emergency department (ED) visits, and hospitalizations due to substance misuse (Government of Canada, 2022; WECHU, 2021; WECHU, 2022b; 2022c). With increasing drug-related harms, a stronger emphasis has been placed on harm reduction strategies such as supervised consumption sites (SCSs) (Kerr et al., 2017).Purpose: People with substance use disorders are among those who make persistent, frequent ED visits in Ontario (Moe et al., 2022). An ED visit has been recognized as an opportunity to improve patient outcomes by identifying those with substance use disorders and connecting them to treatment (Hawk & D’Onofrio, 2018). This study aims to assess ED nurses’ perceptions of substance use disorders and SCSs in Southwestern Ontario.Literature Review: Databases searched include CINAHL, ProQuest, Ovid Medline, PubMed, and Google Scholar using the following keywords: “safe injection site or facility”, “supervised sites”, “safe or supervised consumption sites”, “harm reduction”, “overdose prevention”, “people who use drugs”, “drug use”, “inject*”, “overdose”, “overdose death”, “opioids”, “mortality”, “morbidity”, “substance use or abuse”, “substance use disorder”, “perceptions”, “opinions”, “views”, “attitudes”, 'perspectives', “emergency department or room”, and “nurs*”. Gray literature was also searched. A total of 36 research studies and 22 grey literature sources were included.Methods: Quantitative approach and descriptive design were used. The survey tool was developed in Qualtrics® and deployed electronically to RNs in 6 EDs across 4 Southwestern Ontario hospitals.Results: The final results of this study are pending as data collection is currently ongoing. Conclusion: Knowing the perceptions of ED nurses can help create and enforce harm reduction programs and strategies and help to understand the viewpoints of those providing direct patient care (Shreffler et al., 2021).