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Feasibility and outcomes of a general practice and specialist alcohol and other drug collaborative care program in Sydney, Australia.
- Source :
- Australian Journal of Primary Health; 2022, Vol. 28 Issue 2, p158-163, 6p
- Publication Year :
- 2022
-
Abstract
- Alcohol and other drug (AoD) use is an important health and community issue and may be positively affected by collaborative care programs between specialist AoD services and general practice. This paper describes the feasibility, model of care and patient outcomes of a pilot general practice and specialist AoD (GP-AoD) collaborative care program, in Sydney, Australia, based on usual care data, the minimum data set, service utilisation information and the Australian Treatment Outcome Profile (ATOP), a patient-reported outcome measure. There were 367 referrals to the collaborative care program. GPs referred 210 patients, whereas the AoD service referred 157 patients. Most GP referrals (91.9%) were for AoD problems, whereas nearly half the AoD service referrals were for other issues. The primary drugs of concern in the GP group were either opioids or non-opioids (mostly alcohol). The AoD service-referred patients were primarily using opioids. An ATOP was completed for 152 patients. At the time of referral, those in the GP-referred non-opioid group were significantly less likely to be abstinent, used their primary drug of concern more days and were more likely to be employed (all P < 0.001). A second ATOP was completed for 93 patients. These data showed a significant improvement in the number of days the primary drug of concern was used (P = 0.026) and trends towards abstinence, improved quality of life and physical and psychological well-being for patients in the program. There are few studies of GP-AoD collaborative care programs and nothing in the Australian context. This study suggests that GP-AoD collaborative care programs in Australia are feasible and improve drug use. Alcohol and other drug use is common in Australia and causes serious health and well-being issues. Collaborative care between GPs and specialist alcohol and other drug services may improve this. This is the first Australian study to address collaborative care between GPs and alcohol and other drug services. The study shows that collaborative care is feasible in the Australian setting and suggests that it could help people who use alcohol and other drugs to access care and improve their health and well-being outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- SUBSTANCE abuse treatment
ALCOHOLISM treatment
WELL-being
STATISTICS
EVALUATION of human services programs
DRUG abstinence
ONE-way analysis of variance
HEALTH outcome assessment
PRIMARY health care
TEMPERANCE
MEDICAL care use
PEARSON correlation (Statistics)
T-test (Statistics)
INTERPROFESSIONAL relations
QUALITY of life
QUESTIONNAIRES
CHI-squared test
DESCRIPTIVE statistics
RESEARCH funding
INTEGRATED health care delivery
DATA analysis software
DATA analysis
EVALUATION
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14487527
- Volume :
- 28
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Australian Journal of Primary Health
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 156152387
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1071/PY20197