Barriers and Facilitators to Peer Support Services for Patients With Opioid Use Disorder in the Emergency Department

Abstract

There is a high prevalence of opioid use disorder in the United States, and emergency departments (EDs) play multiple vital roles in providing care to help these patients with achieving sobriety, one of which is the application of peer recovery services. This technical report discusses the utilization of peer recovery supporters in the ED and associated barriers. They include but are not limited to the difficult hiring process, referral process challenges for certain populations, difficulty with follow-up data collection, retention of peer recovery supporters, and a lack of ED provider awareness. This article also discussed strategies to address these barriers. Examples include simplifying hospital onboarding processes for peer recovery supporters, obtaining grants to utilize peer recovery services, and using managed care organizations to facilitate follow-up data collection, ED provider education, and discharge planning.

Keywords: narcotic dependency; opioid epidemic; peer mentor; peer recovery coaches; peer support; substance use disorder; substance-related disorders.