Multidisciplinary team approach to confront the challenge of drug use-associated infective endocarditis

Drug use-associated infective endocarditis is a rapidly growing clinical problem. Although operative outcomes are generally satisfactory, reinfection secondary to recurrent substance use is distressingly common, negatively affects long-term survival, generates practical and ethical challenges, and creates potential conflict among care team members. We established a Drug Use Endocarditis Treatment team including surgeons, infectious disease, and addiction medicine experts specifically focused on the unique complexities of drug use-associated infective endocarditis.

We reviewed the impact of Drug Use Endocarditis Treatment team involvement on quantitative measures of quality of care, including length of stay, time to addiction medicine consultation, time to surgery, and discharge on appropriate medications for opioid use disorder, as well as operative mortality. Standard statistical tests were used, including the Fisher exact test, t test, and Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Qualitative assessment was made of the impact on clinicians, including communication and mutual understanding.

Comparing the pre-Drug Use Endocarditis Treatment cohort with the post-Drug Use Endocarditis Treatment cohort, patients in the post-Drug Use Endocarditis Treatment cohort who underwent surgery had a significantly lower time from admission to addiction medicine consultation (3.8 vs 1.0 days P < .001) and clinically relevant increase in discharge on medications for opioid use disorder (48% vs 67% P = .35). Additionally, involved members of the team thought communication was improved.

The Drug Use Endocarditis Treatment team improved engagement with addiction medicine consultation and appropriate discharge care. Given the impact of relapse of injection drug use on long-term outcomes, interventions such as this offer potentially powerful tools for the treatment of this complex patient population.