Page 21 - Focus March 2018

Christiana Care hosts regional workshop to share what works in addiction care
Seeking solutions to the national opioid epidemic, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives due to opioid-related overdoses, hospital leaders from across the region visited Wilmington to learn about the innovative, successful strategies being developed by Christiana Care ’s Behavioral Health Service Line.
These strategies include Project Engage, which brings peer counselors into the hospital care team to work with opioid- addicted patients. They also include an opioid addiction clinical pathway that identifies patients at risk of withdrawal symptoms and activates a support system to ensure they get the special care that they need.
Ken Silverstein, M.D., MBA, Christiana Care’s chief clinical officer, put the workshop in the context of the Christiana Care Way and its first two words: “We serve.”
“This opportunity to share the lessons we’ve learned in treat- ing addiction wouldn’t happen without the
hard work and exper- tise of our caring people in creating systems of care that serve our patients,” he said.
April Baisden,
M.D., medical
director of Addiction
Medicine at St
Mary’s Medical Center
in Huntington, West
Virginia, gained a lot of
insight into ways to adapt
Christiana Care’s innovations to
the situation in her own community. And she found something else just as important but less tangible.“The biggest benefit we came away with was a little hope,” Dr. Baisden said.
The chaos wrought by addiction has increasingly found its way into her city’s hospitals, creating anxiety among staff and raising safety concerns. Moreover, the revolving door of treatment and relapse has left many nurses and other staff frustrated and disheartened.
“That spark of hope can make a big difference,” she said.
The Addiction Medicine Workshop, held Jan. 29-30 at Wilmington Hospital, welcomed visitors from six health systems and hospitals from West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Virginia. In addition to other private and public attendees, visiting health systems included Marshall Health, St. Mary’s Medical Center, Cabell Huntington Hospital, Inova Health System, Geisinger Health and Penn State College of Medicine.
“These organizations approached Christiana Care to learn about how we’re tackling the opioid epidemic,” said Linda Lang, M.D.,
chair of the Department of Psychiatry and physician leader of the Behavioral Health Service Line. “We are grateful for the
opportunity to spread ideas and practices that germinated here in Delaware but that would help hospital leaders
serve their own local communities.”
Accomplishments in addiction medicine shared by Christiana Care include:
• Project Engage, which recruits trained peer counselors to meet hospital patients at the bedside at a critical time when they are receptive to addiction
treatment.
• The opioid withdrawal clinical pathway, which screens patients for opioid withdrawal and offers
evidence-based interventions. The pathway has helped Christiana Care reduce 30-day hospital readmissions for
opioid withdrawal by 30 percent.
• The use of medication-assist-
ed treatment, or MAT, such as suboxone, which dulls withdrawal symptoms and helps victims of substance use disorders begin
counseling and recovery.
Sue Grigson, director of the Penn State Addiction Center for Translation
and professor of neural and behavioral sciences at Penn State College of Medicine, CONTINUED
| Addiction Medicine
Above: April Baisden, M.D., Addiction Medicine Medical Director, St Mary’s Medical Center, Huntington, West Virginia, shares her insights with attendees, Ken Silverstein, M.D., MBA, chief clinical officer of Christiana Care Health System, speaks with a reporter.
FOCUS • MARCH 2018 19