1. The Efficacy of Safe Injection Sites: The Benefit of RN Supervised Injection Facilities Athena Miller, Courtney Jorgenson, Susannah Groh, Suzanne Goodner,

2. Defining the Problem:  How is an injection drug user defined?  Difference between needle exchange and safe injection sites – community benefits and individual benefits  Morbidity vs. mortality  Harm reduction

3. Ramifications of Hazardous Injection Drug Use  Impact on the community:  Offer facilities that allow individual to safely obtain and dispose of needles, so that they are not left in our communities.  Reduce the risks associated with injection drug use (IDU).  Emergency room visits associated with adverse reactions – most costly: reoccurring overdoses  Impact on the individual:  Increased risk of contracting HIV and Hep C  Overdose  Abbesses  Overall decline in general health  Death  Nurses play an important role in education and health promotion

4. Statistics Associated with Injection Drug Use  Young injection users in SF: Mortality rate was 10x than that of the general population.  Since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, IDU has accounted for more that 36% of AIDS cases in the US  IDU accounts for 68% of current Hep C infections in the U.S.

6. Solution: Safe Injection Sites  Safe injection sites have been shown to have significant harm reduction benefits  Morbidity  Mortality  Crime rates  Cost reduction  Access to healthcare:  Referrals to detox and treatment

7. Solution: Safe Injection Sites  Insite prevents 35 new cases of HIV and 3 overdose deaths annually  By preventing new cases of HIV and overdoses the cost benefit is estimated at $6 million after accounting for annual program cost of $1.5 million

8. Conclusion:  Allows nurses to actively participate in prevention over treatment for IDU  Nurses can become advocates for evidence based practices and policy change

9. Discussion  Drug policy in the US appears to be driven by ideologies rather than evidence-based knowledge  Do you agree?  San Francisco is one of the cities that is considering opening a safe injection site  What are your thoughts?

10. References: