Faculty Development-How to Start Your Own Inpatient Addiction Medicine Consult Service

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The session explained how UC Davis Health built an inpatient addiction medicine consult service called SUIT (Substance Use Intervention Team) alongside SUNS (Substance Use Navigators). The presenters described why such services are needed: substance use disorders are common in ED and hospitalized patients, often unrecognized, and are associated with longer stays, higher readmissions, untreated withdrawal, staff frustration, and increased overdose risk after discharge.  <br /><br />They outlined the team’s structure and workflow: addiction medicine/toxicology physicians, fellows, residents, pharmacists, and navigators who screen patients, manage withdrawal, start medications for opioid and alcohol use disorders, provide harm reduction, and connect patients to outpatient care through warm handoffs.  <br /><br />The talk emphasized benefits of consult services, including reduced length of stay, fewer readmissions, improved follow-up after discharge, lower costs, better performance metrics, and higher staff satisfaction. UC Davis shared their implementation timeline, starting with ED navigators and expanding into a formal consult service during COVID. They highlighted strategies for success such as hospital leadership buy-in, education of inpatient teams, multidisciplinary committees, order sets, and strong collaboration with pharmacy and nursing.  <br /><br />They also reviewed early outcomes showing increased consult volume and statistically significant reductions in length of stay for patients seen by SUIT/SUNS.

Keywords

addiction medicine consult service

substance use disorder

inpatient care

harm reduction

opioid use disorder

alcohol withdrawal

warm handoff

length of stay reduction

UC Davis Health