• Acad Emerg Med · Jan 2008

    Methamphetamine-related emergency department utilization and cost.

    • Robert G Hendrickson, Robert Cloutier, and K John McConnell.
    • Department of Emergency Medicine, Center for Policy Research in Emergency Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA. hendriro@ohsu.edu
    • Acad Emerg Med. 2008 Jan 1;15(1):23-31.

    ObjectiveTo quantify the frequency, cost, and characteristics associated with emergency department (ED) visits that are related to methamphetamine use.MethodsThis was a prospective observational study. The authors performed a training program for ED clinicians on the acute and chronic effects of methamphetamine and the signs of methamphetamine abuse. A standardized two question survey was administered to clinicians concerning the relationship between the ED visit and the patient's methamphetamine use. The survey was embedded in the patient tracking system and was required for all ED patients before disposition. Survey results were merged with administrative data on demographics, diagnosis, disposition, and charges. Univariate analyses were used to determine patient characteristics associated with methamphetamine-related ED visits.ResultsThe authors examined 15,038 ED visits over a 20-week period from February 2006 to June 2006. There were a total of 353 methamphetamine-related visits, for an average of 17.65 visits per week (2.4% of all visits). Hospital charges for methamphetamine-related ED visits averaged $133,181 per week, for an estimated total of $6.9 M in annual charges. Methamphetamine-related ED patients were more likely to be male (odds ratio [OR] 1.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.30 to 2.01), white (OR 1.8, 95% CI = 1.38 to 2.29), and uninsured (OR 3.2, 95% CI = 2.21 to 4.69). The top four medical conditions associated with methamphetamine-related visits were mental health (18.7%), trauma (18.4%), skin infections (11.1%), and dental diagnoses (9.6%).ConclusionsMethamphetamine abuse accounts for a modest but substantial proportion of ED utilization and hospital cost. Methamphetamine-related ED visits are most commonly related to mental illness, trauma, skin, and dental-related problems.

      Pubmed     Free full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…

What will the 'Medical Journal of You' look like?

Start your free 21 day trial now.

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.