title: Medical withdrawal management in Vancouver: service description and evaluation.
abstract: This study evaluates a medically managed inpatient detoxification service (Vancouver Detox (VD)) and investigates its clients' characteristics over a 1-year period. We present information on the daily operation at VD, and examine accessibility and efficiency of it from five perspectives: wait time, pretreatment attrition rate, treatment completion rate, length of stay (LOS), and occupancy rate (OR). In addition, we explore the impacts of seasonality and the monthly welfare check on the utilization of the service. Among 2294 referrals, 35% dropped out without engaging in treatment. Among those who were admitted to VD, 78% completed the treatment program. Shorter wait time and lower OR were found during the welfare check issuance period, and lower OR was found during summer. In addition, the patterns of utilization of VD were changed over the welfare check issuance period. Our analysis indicates that operational accessibility and efficiency at VD could be improved by specifically addressing these factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Healthcare and Epidemiology, University of British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Huiying
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Ajay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Puri
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Marsh
authors.forename: Aslam H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Anis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001509:Bed Occupancy; D001955:British Columbia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010352:Patient Dropouts; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000458:organization & administration; D012621:Seasons; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D013997:Time Factors; D028761:Withholding Treatment