Addiction Disorders

A person leaving the hospital at the end of a long corridor.

One in six patients with opioid use disorder leaving the hospital before completing treatment

A new Penn Medicine analysis shows that discharges too early for patients with opioid use disorder increased over 50% between 2016 and 2020.

Associated Press

Election offices are sent envelopes with fentanyl or other substances. Authorities are investigating

Jeanmarie Perrone of the Perelman School of Medicine says that studies simulating exposure from opening envelopes containing powders showed that very little, if any, of the powder becomes aerosolized to cause toxicity through inhalation.

Prevention

The most exciting health breakthroughs of 2023

Bonnie Milas of the Perelman School of Medicine discusses the dangers of fentanyl and recommends keeping Narcan in household medicine chests.

WHYY (Philadelphia)

Camden County launches virtual reality training program to teach people how to use Narcan for drug overdoses

The School of Nursing and the Annenberg School for Communication have partnered with New Jersey’s Camden County to create a virtual reality training video for administering the opioid-reversing drug Narcan.

CBS Philadelphia

NJ’s Camden County deploying virtual reality to teach students about naloxone

Penn partnered with New Jersey’s Camden County to create a virtual reality training video for administering the opioid-reversing drug Narcan.

NBC News

Fentanyl plus stimulants drives ‘fourth wave’ of overdose epidemic in the U.S.

Anna Childress of the Perelman School of Medicine says that fentanyl was ripe for combination with other drugs when it first appeared, given the long trend of combining opioids and stimulants.

Two hands wearing latex gloves wrapping a bandage on a wound.

The new U.S. plan to target xylazine-laced fentanyl

Researchers from Penn LDI, in conjunction with the Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorder, analyze the plan and raise the question of whether it goes far enough.

WHYY (Philadelphia)

‘I didn’t have it in my bag before’: Incoming Penn students say carrying Narcan is shaping their outlook on medicine

Penn Medicine welcomed a new class of 157 first-year medical students with a hands-on orientation for administering naloxone, a life-saving medication used to help reverse opioid overdoses.

Newsweek

Gruesome photos reveal horrors of ‘zombie’ drug fentanyl additive

A study by Jessica O’Neil and Steven Kovach of the Perelman School of Medicine reveals the dangerous impact of xylazine, a fentanyl additive, on the human body.

Psychology Today

Prescribed stimulants for ADHD and the risk of addiction

Russell Ramsay of the Perelman School of Medicine writes about stimulants as a treatment for ADHD.

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