Consultation-Liaison and SUD equips hospital and ED teams to identify, stabilize, and link patients with substance use disorders to ongoing care. This page turns bedside realities into protocols: screening and withdrawal management on admission; treatment of infections and wounds; initiation of MOUD/AUD medications; and coordination with pain services, surgery, and primary teams. If you’re comparing a hospital addiction conference, you’ll find pathways for peri-operative management, stigma-aware communication, and rapid follow-up that reduces readmissions. Because boarding and repeat presentations are common, we emphasize low-threshold linkage, peer navigators, and tele-bridges that keep patients engaged after discharge. For outpatient step-down models, see Office-Based Addiction Treatment.

Hospitals are leverage points for recovery. Start MOUD at the bedside, treat pain with multimodal strategies that avoid sedation stacking, and provide naloxone plus safer-use education before discharge. Align documentation with parity policies and remove barriers like unnecessary prior auths. Manage alcohol and sedative withdrawal safely with symptom-triggered protocols; correct nutrition and prevent Wernicke’s with thiamine. Integrate infectious disease care, wound management, and vaccines; collaborate with social work on housing and benefits. Publish outcomes—linkage rates, readmissions, overdose events—to build support for sustained programs.