Respondents’ attitudes toward interventions for patients with opioid use disorder
| Characteristic | No. of respondents | % of respondents (95% CI) | Range across physician groups, %* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Respondent agreement that emergency physicians have a “major” level of responsibility† to perform the following interventions in the ED | |||
| Referral to detoxification programs or addictions services (n = 629) | 513 | 81.6 (78.5–84.6) | 60.0–100.0 |
| Provision of take-home naloxone kits (n = 629) | 512 | 81.4 (78.3–84.4) | 52.0–100.0 |
| Screening and counselling for interpersonal violence (n = 626) | 431 | 68.9 (65.2–72.5) | 47.6–90.0 |
| Screening and education regarding substance use (n = 626) | 429 | 68.5 (64.9–72.2) | 58.6–83.7 |
| BUP initiation for opioid use disorder (n = 626) | 402 | 64.2 (60.5–68.0) | 31.0–90.7 |
| Referral to needle exchange program (n = 618) | 359 | 58.1 (54.2–62.0) | 35.7–76.9 |
| Counselling for smoking cessation (n = 622) | 262 | 42.1 (38.2–46.0) | 20.0–61.8 |
| Screening for human immunodeficiency virus (n = 619) | 239 | 38.6 (34.8–42.5) | 13.0–74.4 |
| Respondent agreement‡ with the following statements | |||
| I feel that I am able to work with PWUD as well as other client groups (n = 627) | 414 | 66.0 (62.3–69.7) | 20.7–88.9 |
| One can get satisfaction from working with PWUD (n = 626) | 400 | 63.9 (60.1–67.7) | 35.0–76.3 |
| It is rewarding to work with PWUD (n = 628) | 233 | 37.1 (33.3–40.9) | 13.8–60.9 |
| I feel I can understand PWUD (n = 623) | 231 | 37.1 (33.3–40.9) | 11.8–60.0 |
| I feel that there is little I can do to help PWUD (n = 625) | 231 | 37.0 (33.2–40.8) | 14.0–82.8 |
| I feel that I am a failure with PWUD (n = 615) | 159 | 25.9 (22.4–29.3) | 5.0–79.3 |
| I often feel uncomfortable working with PWUD (n = 595) | 105 | 17.6 (14.6–20.7) | 0.0–42.9 |
| I have less respect for PWUD than other patients (n = 602) | 104 | 17.3 (14.2–20.3) | 4.9–25.9 |
| Composite self-efficacy at least 4 on 1–5 scale (n = 576) | 211 | 36.6 (32.7–40.6) | 0.0–66.7 |
| Respondent agreement§ with the following ASAM statements | |||
| Addiction is influenced by psychological and environmental factors (n = 632) | 615 | 97.3 (96.0–98.6) | 88.0–100.0 |
| Addiction is a chronic medical illness similar to asthma, diabetes and hypertension (n = 629) | 526 | 83.6 (80.7–86.5) | 69.6–100.0 |
| Addiction is the result of changes in brain neurocircuitry (n = 624) | 506 | 81.1 (78.0–84.2) | 54.3–95.2 |
| Agreement with all 3 statements (n = 621) | 457 | 73.6 (70.1–77.1) | 48.6–85.7 |
Note: ASAM = American Society of Addiction Medicine, BUP = buprenorphine–naloxone, CI = confidence interval, ED = emergency department, PWUD = people who use drugs.
↵* Range from the ED group with the lowest positive response to the ED group with the highest positive response.
↵† Score of at least 7 on a 1–10 scale.
↵‡ Score of at least 5 on a 1–7 scale.
↵§ Score of at least 4 on a 1–5 scale.