Substance Abuse and Addiction Commons^™

Lessons Learned From The Implementation Of A Medically Enhanced Residential Treatment (Mert) Model Integrating Intravenous Antibiotics And Residential Addiction Treatment, Talitha Wilson, Devin Collins, Elena Phoutrides, Melissa B. Weimer, P. Todd Korthuis, Jessica Calcagni, Christina Nicolaidis

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

BACKGROUND: Hospitalizations for severe infections associated with substance use disorder (SUD) are increasing. People with SUD often remain hospitalized for many weeks instead of completing intravenous antibiotics at home; often, they are denied skilled nursing facility admission. Residential SUD treatment facilities are not equipped to administer intravenous antibiotics. We developed a medically enhanced residential treatment (MERT) model integrating residential SUD treatment and long-term IV antibiotics as part of a broader hospital-based addiction medicine service. MERT had low recruitment and retention, and ended after six months. The goal of this study was to describe the feasibility and acceptability of MERT, to …