This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on ISI (13)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Quality of Care, Other  • Public Health  • Alert me on articles by topic

Hobart W. Harris, MD, MPH; David M. Young, MD

Arch Surg. 2002;137:1217-1222.

Context  Illicit injection drug use results in serious soft tissue infections that are the number one nonpsychiatric reason for admission to San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH), San Francisco, Calif.

Objective  To establish a specialized clinic to provide accessible, high-quality, and cost-effective medical care to patients with soft tissue infections.

Design, Setting, Intervention, and Outcome Measures  The Integrated Soft Tissue Infection Services (ISIS) Clinic was established to provide coordinated surgical intervention, substance abuse counseling, and social services for patients with soft tissue infections treated in a public hospital. Demographic information, treatment outcome, and hospital utilization data were analyzed.

Results  In the clinic's first year of operation, there were 3365 patient visits and 2255 surgical procedures. A large number of patients reported recent injection of illicit drugs (61%), were homeless (30%), and either had hepatitis C, hepatitis B, or human immunodeficiency virus infection (62%). Patients using heroin were enrolled in either a detoxification or maintenance program (42%). Few patients were designated as treatment failures (2%) or were lost to follow-up (14%). The ISIS Clinic dramatically reduced emergency department visits (-33.9%), surgical service admissions (-47.3%), inpatient acute care bed days (-33.7%), and operating room procedures (-71%), saving approximately $8 765 200 in the first year of operation.

Conclusions  This clinical intervention was notably cost-effective while preserving a high quality of medical services. Owing to limited data, we can only assume that other communities are similarly confronted with this public health problem. The ISIS Clinic could serve as a model intervention and thus have significant impact on the treatment of this prevalent but often overlooked challenge.

From the Department of Surgery, San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco.

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Cephalexin for Treatment of Uncomplicated Skin Abscesses in a Population at Risk for Community-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infection
Rajendran et al.
Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 2007;51:4044-4048.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Renal amyloidosis in intravenous drug users
Connolly et al.
QJM 2006;99:737-742.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Inappropriate Antibiotic Use in Soft Tissue Infections
Paydar et al.
Arch Surg 2006;141:850-856.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

An Epidemic of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Soft Tissue Infections Among Medically Underserved Patients
Young et al.
Arch Surg 2004;139:947-953.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Widespread Skin and Soft-Tissue Infections Due to Two Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Strains Harboring the Genes for Panton-Valentine Leucocidin
Diep et al.
J. Clin. Microbiol. 2004;42:2080-2084.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT