Prevalence of illicit substance use among patients presenting to the emergency department with acute behavioural disturbance: Rapid point‐of‐care saliva screening

Abstract

The prevalence of illicit substance use among this cohort was 40%. Self-reporting was unreliable. Point-of-care saliva testing is feasible. Early identification of harmful drug use may assist clinical decision making in selected or undifferentiated cases and provide an opportunity to implement harm minimisation strategies and make referrals.