Candidate Performance Measures for Screening for, Assessing, and Treating Unhealthy Substance Use in Hospitals
Authors: Larry M. Gentilello, Eric Goplerud
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2011)

Letters4 January 2011Candidate Performance Measures for Screening for, Assessing, and Treating Unhealthy Substance Use in HospitalsLarry M. Gentilello, MD and Eric Goplerud, PhDLarry M. Gentilello, MDFrom University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX 75390, and Center for Integrated Behavioral Health Policy, George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC, 20037. and Eric Goplerud, PhDFrom University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX 75390, and Center for Integrated Behavioral Health Policy, George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC, 20037.Author, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-154-1-201101040-00017 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR:We read Saitz's recent article (1) with great interest. Saitz concluded that evidence is insufficient to support screening and offering counseling to hospitalized patients with substance use problems. He recommends that clinicians treat the 70 acute and chronic illnesses that are linked to unhealthy substance use and ignore the underlying cause.That would be the death of medical common sense. It would be like treating a patient with myocardial infarction without screening for hypercholesterolemia, treating a patient who had a stroke without measuring blood pressure, treating a patient with emphysema without screening for tobacco use, or treating ...References1. Saitz R. Candidate performance measures for screening for, assessing, and treating unhealthy substance use in hospitals: advocacy or evidence-based practice? Ann Intern Med. 2010;153:40-3. [PMID: 20621901] LinkGoogle Scholar2. Gentilello LM, Rivara FP, Donovan DM, Jurkovich GJ, Daranciang E, Dunn CW, et al. Alcohol interventions in a trauma center as a means of reducing the risk of injury recurrence. Ann Surg. 1999;230:473-80. [PMID: 10522717] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Gentilello LM, Ebel BE, Wickizer TM, Salkever DS, Rivara FP. Alcohol interventions for trauma patients treated in emergency departments and hospitals: a cost benefit analysis. Ann Surg. 2005;241:541-50. [PMID: 15798453] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. Schermer CR, Moyers TB, Miller WR, Bloomfield LA. Trauma center brief interventions for alcohol disorders decrease subsequent driving under the influence arrests. J Trauma. 2006;60:29-34. [PMID: 16456433] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: From University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX 75390, and Center for Integrated Behavioral Health Policy, George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC, 20037.Disclosures: The authors were technical advisors to The Joint Commission in drafting their substance use performance measures. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoCandidate Performance Measures for Screening for, Assessing, and Treating Unhealthy Substance Use in Hospitals: Advocacy or Evidence-Based Practice? Richard Saitz Candidate Performance Measures for Screening for, Assessing, and Treating Unhealthy Substance Use in Hospitals Richard Saitz Candidate Performance Measures for Screening for, Assessing, and Treating Unhealthy Substance Use in Hospitals Jerod M. Loeb , Ann E. Watt , and Nancy K. Lawler Candidate Performance Measures for Screening for, Assessing, and Treating Unhealthy Substance Use in Hospitals Bertha K. Madras Metrics Cited byAlcohol brief intervention for hospitalized veterans with hazardous drinking: protocol for a 3-arm randomized controlled efficacy trial 4 January 2011Volume 154, Issue 1Page: 73KeywordsDrugsEmphysemaGlucoseHealth care providersInpatientsMyocardial infarctionSurgery ePublished: 4 January 2011 Issue Published: 4 January 2011 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2011 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...