Comprehensive toxicological analysis of blood samples of intoxicated Emergency Department (ED) patients holds potential as an alternative source of data on harmful drug use in the community. The NCCRED capacity building grant enabled expansion of an existing unfunded pilot program run by staff at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) ED and Forensic Science SA. The expanded program (EDABPT) had aims that included identification of emerging new psychoactive substances (NPS), characterisation of methamphetamine and poly-drug use presentations, and identifying local harmful drug use patterns. The proposal was for expansion to approximately 600 samples to be taken from 4 metropolitan hospitals over 12 months.
Expectations were exceeded, with 1120 patients enrolled from 4 hospitals across Adelaide. Comprehensive toxicological analysis of all blood samples is complete, and results have been disseminated to main local stakeholders over the course of the project. Information was also disseminated more widely in the form of relevant conference presentations (TIAFT 2019, FACTA 2019, NCCRED 2019,2020 and TAPNA 2019).
NCCRED’s support of EDABPT enabled a powerful demonstration of how such programs provide accurate information on harmful drug use at a local level. Moving forward, the EDAPBT project will continue in a slightly modified form under the NHMRC funded ‘Emerging Drugs Network of Australia’ program (EDNA) for a further 5 years (commencing Q3 2020-21).
Dr Peter Stockham, Principal Investigator
Forensic Science SA
Dr Sam Alfred, Investigator
Royal Adelaide Hospital
Dr Daniel Haustead, Investigator
Royal Adelaide Hospital, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Dr Emma Partridge, Investigator
Forensic Science SA
Mr Chris Kostakis, Investigator
Forensic Science SA
Prof Jason White, Investigator
The University of South Australia
Prof Andrew Camilleri, Investigator
The University of South Australia
