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SAMHSA Press Releases
 
Date: October 10 , 2006
Media Contact: SAMHSA Press
Telephone: 240-276-2130
   
 

SAMHSA News Highlights Efforts to Blend Research with Practice
 

Successful efforts to incorporate research findings into clinical practice are described in the September/October 2006 issue of SAMHSA News, the newsletter of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The issue describes a joint effort by SAMHSA and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to decrease the 17-year gap that typically occurs between the publication of research results in scholarly journals and their application in clinical practice.

 The "Blending Initiative," as the effort is called, takes findings on substance abuse treatment typically gleaned from NIDA's Clinical Trials Network and packages them into readily understandable curricula and tools for service providers.

Topics covered so far include the treatment of opioid addiction with the medication buprenorphine and the use of the Addiction Severity Index, a tool for addiction counselors to collect information about all aspects of a client's life to use in building a treatment plan.

Other newsletter articles include a project called "Digital Access to Medication," which is developing a centralized database of information on patients in treatment for opioid dependence.  The purpose of “D-ATM” is to enable service providers throughout the nation to prescribe dosage-specific medication during or following emergencies such as hurricanes or terrorist attacks that cause power failures or population dispersal.

The issue also announces new SAMHSA grant awards, survey findings showing a continuing decline in youth drug use, and newly available publications.

The September/October 2006 issue is available online at http://www.samhsa.gov/samhsa_news/.   SAMHSA News is published bimonthly in both hardcopy and electronic format.  To receive a free subscription, telephone 1 (888) 577-8977 (toll-free) or (240) 221-4001 in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area.
 
 
   
 

SAMHSA, is a public health agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is responsible for improving the accountability, capacity and effectiveness of the nation’s substance abuse prevention, addictions, treatment, and mental health services delivery system.

 
 
   

SAMHSA is An Agency of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Service