About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges of managing opioid use disorder in the emergency department amidst the evolving drug landscape.

The opioid epidemic has become supercharged in the past 10-15 years, first with the widespread replacement of heroin by the more potent fentanyl and more recently with the introduction of alpha agonists such as xylazine and medetomidine into the drug supply. Peter Lorenz, MD, sits down with EM/tox/addiction medicine-trained Rachel Haroz, MD, to discuss this ever-changing landscape and how to best provide lifesaving care to some of our most vulnerable patients in the emergency department.

People in this episode

Host: Peter Lorenz, MD

Guest: Rachel Haroz, MD

Topics covered

• opioid epidemic
• emergency medicine
• addiction medicine
• patient care
• fentanyl
• xylazine

Keywords

• opioid use disorder
• emergency department
• fentanyl
• xylazine
• medetomidine
• addiction medicine
• patient care

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Emergency Medicine Residents' Association

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