title: Drug and alcohol-related emergency department visits: results of a pilot survey in two hospitals in Israel.
abstract: There is no system for reporting drug and alcohol-related emergency department (ED) visits in Israel. This pilot survey was aimed at examining the feasibility of establishing an ED surveillance system in a general hospital and a psychiatric hospital. We describe the design and preliminary results of a pilot-survey conducted in the emergency departments of two hospitals in Northern Israel. Active and passive case identification was conducted in Rambam Hospital and Tirat Carmel Psychiatric Hospital, from August, 1999-January, 2000. A total of 160 ED patients were identified, 64% as drug-related, with heroin being the most common drug. The majority of cases were identified through self-reports. Overdose and IVDU complications accounted for 20% of drug cases identified at Rambam Hospital, and injury and motor vehicle accidents accounted for 12% of all visits at this hospital. We did not attempt to estimate the proportion of all ED visits that are associated with drugs and/or alcohol. Under-ascertainment of cases and incomplete data recording remain major concerns for a survey of this nature. Results of this pilot survey indicate that with proper training of ED nurses a national ED surveillance system can be successfully and efficiently established in general hospitals and psychiatric hospitals in Israel.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine, School of Public Health & Community Medicine, Hebrew University-Hadassah, P.O. Box 12272, Jerusalem, Israel 91120, yneumark@md2.huji.ac.il
authors.forename: Yehuda D
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Neumark
authors.forename: Hedva
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yuffe-Sheinman
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Glasser
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bar-Hamburger
authors.forename: Theodore
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tulchinsky
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004637:Emergency Services, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires