PCSS AOAAM Half and Half Training-6058-Medical Considerations for Patients with Opioid Use Disorder

Video Transcription

Video Summary

In this video, Dr. Jeanette Tetreault, a professor of medicine and public health at Yale School of Medicine, discusses medical considerations for patients with opioid use disorder. She emphasizes the importance of training healthcare professionals in evidence-based practices for prevention and treatment. Dr. Tetreault outlines various medical complications associated with injection drug use, including infections, such as wound botulism, tetanus, soft tissue infections, and injection drug use-related infective endocarditis. She discusses the treatment approaches for these complications, including antibiotics and incision and drainage. Dr. Tetreault also highlights the need for screening and prevention of viral hepatitis, including hepatitis C, HIV, and sexually transmitted infections in patients with substance use disorder. She stresses that addiction treatment is a form of prevention and that opioid agonist therapy can prevent HCV and HIV transmission. Dr. Tetreault recommends offering immunizations and counseling on safe injection practices, and she discusses the advancements in hepatitis C treatment, which now has a cure rate of 95%. She emphasizes the importance of engaging patients in addiction treatment and implementing harm reduction strategies to reduce the risk of reinfection. Finally, Dr. Tetreault mentions clinical indications and eligibility for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention.

Keywords

opioid use disorder

injection drug use

medical complications

HCV

HIV

substance use disorder

hepatitis C treatment

HIV prevention