The Addiction Pro

U rinalysis is the main laboratory testing vehicle Addiction Professionals utilize to determine whether or not a patient is using drugs and/or alcohol. To the uninitiated, an Addiction Professional only looks at a toxicology result through a binary lens: negative, or positive. True clinicians know that toxicology is much more complex than that. This article is just one example.  Let's dig in: Let's suppose that a patient is suspected of having used cocaine recently because their urinalysis results showed positive for the substance. That's simple enough. However, their results also show them being positive for benzoylecgonine which is one of the 11 metabolites of cocaine. But how can that be? How can the patient be positive for both cocaine and a metabolite of cocaine at the same time? You look at the patient's toxicology history and see that this never happened with this patient before. This has to be some kind of false positive, right? And, after all, the metabolite i...

S tate boards generally prohibit counselors from all forms of physical contact with patients. Hugging, holding hands, rubbing shoulders, and of course any sexual contact, is strictly prohibited as it should be. Ideally, we would never touch our patients. But inside the addiction clinic, conditions are not always ideal. There are times when contact is unavoidable and exceptions to the rules have to be made. Let's explore. The patient is about to fall down It's not breaking news that patients in an addiction facility tend to be using drugs and/or alcohol. Because of this, sometimes, they lose their balance due to the effects of use. The option of catching them before they fall and hurt themselves is something you should definitely exercise. Not just because they may sue if you allow them to fall and hurt themselves, but also because you care about the welfare of your patients. After that, help the patient find a seat and alert medical staff so that they can evaluate the patient...

E ach state has its own system of qualifying addiction counselors to practice. Across the country, the titles and acronyms differ from state to state. In this article, we'll focus on the New York State system, which is under the purview of OASAS (Office of Addiction Services and Supports). Like nearly all state systems in this profession, in New York there are levels to credentialing. At every level there are certain requirements that must be met in order to obtain credentialing, and certain privileges that counselors can gain. This is all outlined in the latest OASAS Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and Problem Gambling (PG) Counselor Scope of Practice document (2/24). Why scope of practice rules are necessary Scope of practice rules are put in place to prevent incompetent practice and protect both patients and counselors. It's an effort to prevent the harm that can come to patients and counselors from having unqualified healthcare workers in positions they lack the education and...