Sepsis and Opioid Use Disorder: The Intersection of Two Public Health Crises
Recorded On: 01/27/2022
Description:
Sepsis and opioid use disorders are major sources of morbidity, mortality, and costs to the healthcare system. While most of the national focus has been on the rising number of fatal opioid overdoses, less attention has been paid to the serious infectious complications of opioid use disorders, including sepsis. In this presentation, Drs. Rhee and Kimmel will review recent data elucidating the epidemiology of sepsis and opioid-related hospitalizations and discuss potential strategies for reducing the harms associated with the intersection of these two public health emergencies.
Learning Objectives:
At the end of the activity, the learner should be able to:
- Review the major acute infectious complications of opioid use disorders;
- Describe the prevalence, clinical characteristics, outcomes, and trends of sepsis and opioid-related hospitalizations;
- Discuss integration of opioid use disorder treatment with sepsis care to reduce morbidity and mortality from both infections and opioid use disorder.
Target Audience:
Nurses, advanced practice providers, physicians, emergency responders, pharmacists, medical technologists, respiratory therapists, physical/occupational therapists, infection prevention specialists, data/quality specialists, and more.
Simeon Kimmel, MD, MA
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center
Simeon Kimmel, MD, MA, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and an Attending Physician in the Sections of General Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Boston Medical Center. He is Medical Director of Project TRUST, Boston Medical Center’s harm reduction-focused drop-in center. He trained in Internal Medicine and Primary Care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital before completing a joint fellowship in Addiction Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Boston Medical Center. He also earned a Master’s Degree in Medical Anthropology from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on improving retention in treatment with medications for opioid use disorder following serious injection-related infections as well as the integration of addiction and harm reduction services with infectious disease care. He was awarded a Career Development Award from NIDA in 2021.
Chanu Rhee, MD, MPH, FIDSA
Assistant Professor of Population Medicine
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute / Harvard Medical School
Dr. Rhee is an infectious disease physician, intensivist, and Associate Hospital Epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His clinical and research interest is the epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of sepsis and infections in critically ill patients, with a particular focus on using electronic health record data to improve disease surveillance and quality of care. Within the Massachusetts General Brigham healthcare system, he has been an institutional leader in improving sepsis care, preventing healthcare-associated infections, and developing and implementing the infection control response to COVID-19. As a CDC and AHRQ-funded investigator, he has led numerous studies that have advanced our understanding of sepsis epidemiology and improved the nation’s capacity to monitor its incidence and outcomes. Dr. Rhee is a member of the editorial board for Critical Care Medicine and is involved in several regional and national committees focusing on sepsis, including the Massachusetts Sepsis Consortium, the ACEP Sepsis Guidelines Panel, and the IDSA Sepsis Task Force.
Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP17068 for 1.6 contact hours.
Other healthcare professionals will receive a certificate of attendance for 1.25 contact hours.
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