title: A study exploring drug use and management of patients presenting to an inner city emergency department.
abstract: Patients who present to an emergency department (ED) with a problem related to illegal drug use can be difficult to identify and are perceived to generate a significant workload for staff. This study suggests that illicit drug use may be more common than previously reported and also that the impact on the ED is perceived by staff to be disproportionately high compared with the actual numbers of patients presenting with complaints related to illicit drug use. We conclude that the over estimation by staff is directly related to the challenges that staff working within the ED setting believe this group of patients pose.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health and Social Care, University of The West of England, Bristol Glenside Campus, Blackberry Hill, Bristol BS16 1DD, UK. Rebecca.Hoskins@uwe.ac.uk
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hoskins
authors.forename: Debra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Salmon
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Binks
authors.forename: Hilary
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Moody
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Benger
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D017281:Cost of Illness; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D016526:Workload