Nudge increases prescriptions of drinking medication
By prompting emergency medicine clinicians to consider naltrexone, Penn researchers see a 15-fold increase in prescriptions.
2 min. read
A “nudging” strategy in the emergency department (ED) may be a path for prescribing a medication that can blunt cravings for alcohol—and dull its effects—offering an effective treatment for people with alcohol use disorder (AUD) who might not otherwise receive it.
Researchers at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine have used two behavioral science-backed methods to prompt clinicians to prescribe the medication, called naltrexone, to qualified patients, resulting in a 15-fold increase in the likelihood that a patient would leave the emergency department with a prescription. The research is published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.
“Nationally, because of stigma and a lack of awareness, we are missing out on a huge opportunity to offer effective treatment to patients who struggle with alcohol,” says first author Jeffrey Ebert, the director of Applied Behavioral Science at Penn Medicine’s Nudge Unit. “Our work shows that it only takes a small adjustment to make a huge impact on who gets the medicine they need.”
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