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May 17, 2025
Buprenorphine is used for opioid addiction to reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms without causing euphoria or dangerous side effects and helps prevent relapse. Buprenorphine is used as part of a complete treatment program that also includes counseling and behavioral therapy. The CA Bridge program is conducting one of the largest efforts in the U.S. to encourage emergency clinicians to initiate buprenorphine when patients with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) enter their emergency departments (EDs). A new study shows that it’s working. Though an opioid itself, buprenorphine is safe, has lower abuse potential compared with other opioids, and ensures greater safety in case of overdoses. It provides a reasonable path for the millions of people living with OUDs to begin their transition away from the illicit market. But buprenorphine can’t be the solution if it doesn’t reach patients. “The ED is a really crucial place to offer treatment for people with substance use disorders because that’s where patients are going when they’re not connected to outpatient care," said one of CA Bridge's founders. Since its inception in 2018, CA Bridge had been implemented in 291 EDs—which account for 88% of emergency departments in California. The program provides emergency clinicians with free resources about buprenorphine and other medications for addiction treatment best practices. Key to CA Bridge’s success is its navigator program, for which the California legislature has provided funding to help implement in EDs across the state. The navigators do the hard work of helping patients get into treatment clinics, identify barriers like housing or transportation, and provide resources. Which means the clinician just has to identify the need and write the prescription. Navigators are essential in encouraging patients to take buprenorphine. One navigator said, "Not only do navigator programs save lives, they save hospitals a lot of time, money, and resources." A CA Bridge project manager said, “It’s amazing to see the patient’s turnaround after they’ve received buprenorphine,” and “They are completely different people. I’ve had a lot of patients say, ‘I inject heroin or fentanyl every day, there’s no way this one tablet is going to help me.’ I just respond, ‘Let’s try it out. What do you have to lose?’ Thirty minutes later, they’re completely different people. They’ll say, ‘I feel like I did before the addiction.’” There is no one-size-fits-all treatment duration for patients taking buprenorphine. Patients should be slowly weaned off buprenorphine over the course of several days to weeks in order to avoid further opioid-related withdrawal symptoms.
Here's the link: Fighting the Opioid Crisis in the ED | Psychiatric News