Care pathway enhances child and youth substance-use care in BC

As addiction becomes a growing provincial concern, Shared Care physicians are offering tools and strategies to help their colleagues better support young patients by taking the guesswork out of pediatric substance-use care. 

“Physicians want to provide a good standard of care, but not all may know what that looks like in every scenario,” says Dr James Wang, a Vancouver-based pediatrician specializing in adolescent medicine and addiction medicine. “This pathway aims to standardize physicians’ approach so they can provide that basic standard of care for their patients.” 

Developed by physicians in Shared Care’s Child and Youth Mental Health and Substance Use Community of Practice (CYMHSU CoP), the pathway is designed as a practical, visual tool for clinicians unfamiliar with treating young patients facing substance use. Hosted on Pathways BC, the resource includes referral forms, diagnostic criteria, conversation guides, substance-specific resources, and other supports. 
 

The feedback has been resoundingly positive. Dr Bruce Hobson, a retired family physician involved in the pathway’s development, has noted that both family physicians and specialist colleagues have told him they value the resource. 

“I was talking to a pediatrician today, who more often sees ADHD or anxiety, and infections; he found the resources, handouts, and tools very helpful,” says Dr Hobson, medical director for program standards at UBC Continuing Professional Development (CPD).  

The uptake reflects this need: since its launch last year, more than 1,000 BC clinicians have accessed the pathway, with nearly 100 attending workshops in which they learned to navigate the pathway and maximize its usefulness. 

“The biggest value for patients is in knowing that no matter what community you move to or what physician you’re seeing in BC, they have access to the same standard approach to substance-use care—one vetted to be practical and meaningful for both the clinician and the patient,” Dr Hobson adds. 

The CoP physicians plan to collaborate with their partners to keep the clinical pathway current and are exploring integration with electronic medical record systems (EMRs) to improve user access and measure impact. 

This work was funded by the Shared Care Committee, one of four joint collaborative committees of Doctors of BC and the Ministry of Health. 

Partners in this work included UBC CPD and Pathways BC.   

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