Illicit drug use while admitted to hospital: Patient and health care provider perspectives.

Providers highlighted gaps in institutional guidance for how they ought to appropriately respond to in-hospital substance use. Patients attempted to conceal illicit drug use in environments with no institutional policies about such use, leading to varied responses that were inconsistent with the principles of patient centred care and reflected personal beliefs about illicit drug use. There are increasing calls for implementation of harm reduction approaches and interventions in hospitals but uptake has been slow. Our study contributes to this emerging body of literature and highlights areas for future research, the development of interventions, and changes to policy and practice.