EVALUATION OF EXISTING TREATMENTS FOR DRUG ABUSE

现有的药物滥用治疗方法经常显示出很大的差异 有效性，无论是在治疗计划还是在患者之间。一个 更好地了解造成这种差异的因素可能会 导致确定和实施促进 提高了治疗效果。这个项目是由药品管理局实施的 由约翰·鲍尔博士领导的虐待治疗评估小组申请 评估四个药物滥用治疗方案的综合方案 领域：患者病史和特征、计划特征、 提供的治疗服务和治疗结果。目前的研究是 (1)评价阿片类药物自报信息的有效性 吸毒者，例如，犯罪行为；(2)应用时间序列分析 美沙酮维持治疗的疗效评价，以及(3) 评估既往药物滥用治疗对患者预后的影响 短期住院戒毒。 该项目的另一个组成部分是评估与以下因素相关的因素 在医院合并室寻求治疗的吸毒者。吸毒者可能 由于各种原因被送到医院急诊室，有些 临床上合适的(例如，危及生命的医学后果 药物使用)和卫生保健系统的一些较低效率的使用(例如， 非紧急医疗条件，试图进入药物滥用 治疗)。关于两者之间的关系的数据很少 吸毒者的急诊室就诊及其寻求和 参与药物滥用治疗。这项研究与 弗朗西斯·斯科特·基医疗中心的急诊科 中心，马里兰州巴尔的摩，收集数据的社会人口，药物使用， 以及未经选择的一系列吸毒者的寻求治疗行为 参观一家城市医院的急诊室。

Existing treatments for drug abuse often show wide variations in effectiveness, both across treatment programs and across patients. A better understanding of the factors contributing to such variations could lead to identification and implementation of changes that promote increased treatment effectiveness. This project, conducted by the Drug Abuse Treatment Evaluation Unit headed by Dr. John Ball, applies a comprehensive schema for evaluating drug abuse treatment programs in four areas: patient history and characteristics, program characteristics, treatment services provided, and treatment outcome. Current studies are (1) evaluating the validity of information self-reported by opiate addicts, e.g., criminal behavior; (2) applying time series analysis to the evaluation of outcomes of methadone maintenance treatment, and (3) evaluating the effect of prior drug abuse treatment on the outcome of short-term inpatient detoxification. Another component of this project is evaluating factors associated with drug users seeking treatment in a hospital mergence room. Drug users may present to a hospital emergency room for a variety of reasons, some clinically appropriate (e.g., a life-threatening medical consequence of drug use) and some less efficient uses of the health care system (e.g., non-urgent medical condition, attempt to enter substance abuse treatment). There is little data available on the relationship between emergency room visits by drug users and their seeking of and participation in drug abuse treatment. This study, in collaboration with the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Francis Scott Key Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, collects data on the sociodemographic, drug use, and treatment-seeking behavior of an unselected series of drug users visiting an urban hospital emergency room.