# Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder in Young Adults Hospitalized with Infectious Complications of Injection Opioid Use

> **NIH NIH K23** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2021 · $189,972

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Young adults have rising rates of opioid-related morbidity and mortality, and those who inject opioids are a
particularly vulnerable group. Infectious bacterial complications of injection drug use (IC-IDU) contribute to high
morbidity and mortality and lead to lengthy hospitalizations for severe infections, such as endocarditis and
osteomyelitis. Despite evidence showing receipt of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) can reduce
opioid-related mortality and that initiation of MOUD during hospitalization leads to improved engagement in
OUD treatment at discharge, only a minority of patients receive MOUD during hospitalization. Untreated
substance use in young adults hospitalized with IC-IDU leads to readmissions, high medical costs, and
recurrent infections. As a health services researcher and specialty-trained physician in adolescent and
addiction medicine, I am well trained to identify the health needs of this population and to not only design
effective interventions, but to translate them into clinical practice.
The overall objective of this application is to develop a clinician-facing intervention to improve delivery of
MOUD to hospitalized young adults with IC-IDU. Specific aims include: 1a) Identify multi-level barriers and
facilitators that may influence the delivery of MOUD during hospitalization, by conducting semi-structured
qualitative interviews with the following stakeholders: clinicians, hospital social workers/case managers, and
young adults. 1b) Use intervention mapping to systematically develop a clinician-facing intervention. We will
build on components of an existing outpatient intervention to develop a multi-component, inpatient clinician-
facing intervention to improve delivery of MOUD. 2) Pilot test a clinician-facing intervention to improve delivery
of MOUD. The intervention will focus on changing clinician behavior and addressing key patient, provider and
system-level barriers to improve hospital prescription of MOUD and linkage to outpatient OUD treatment. Our
primary outcomes will include feasibility and acceptability.
An acceptable and feasible health system intervention to improve delivery of MOUD to young adults with OUD
and IC-IDU would address a profound public health crisis. Our aims will identify best practices for recruitment
and retention, support development and testing of study measures, and identify potential difficulties in delivery
of the intervention bundle. This will lead to a R01 hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial to test the impact of
the intervention and supportive implementation strategies in multiple clinical sites. This award will allow me to
become an independent clinician-investigator in health services research and implementation science.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10197083
- **Project number:** 5K23DA048987-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Jacqueline Deanna Wilson
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $189,972
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-07-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10197083

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10197083, Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder in Young Adults Hospitalized with Infectious Complications of Injection Opioid Use (5K23DA048987-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10197083. Licensed CC0.

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