Inpatient care provider perspectives on the development and implementation of an addiction medicine consultation service in a small urban setting

To evaluate provider perspectives on the development and implementation of an inpatient Addiction Medicine Consult Service, including their awareness of the service, its perceived role in the continuum of care, and changes over time in their perceptions of care quality for inpatients with substance use disorders. Repeated cross-sectional survey of hospital-based physicians, nurses and social workers performed at service launch (April-June, 2017) and 4 years later (March-June, 2021). Providers had generally positive perceptions of the service and its impact on care quality, but encountered significant barriers at both time points in meeting patient needs (related to high patient complexity and difficulty connecting patients with community services post-discharge). Relative to physicians and social workers, nurses were less likely to be familiar with the service or see it as beneficial.