Why Face-to-Face Care Matters for Drug Rehab in Orange County

Why Face to Face Care Matters for Drug Rehab in Orange County, California

Though telemedicine existed before the pandemic, it truly exploded in popularity due to COVID-19. Along with virtual visits to general practitioners, patients started booking online appointments with mental health professionals and other specialists. Due to social distancing, many patients stopped going to addiction rehab during the height of the pandemic. Others continued rehab virtually, in order to stay on the path to recovery while still avoiding Covid exposure.1 We’ll explore the importance of face-to-face treatment at a drug rehab in Orange County.

Recent Data Show Face-to-Face Rehab is Invaluable

Sadly, virtual rehab clients had worse outcomes than their peers attending in-person rehab, as data from the UK shows. Since the pandemic began, the UK saw a 27% rise in deaths among people enrolled in treatment.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities suspects less face-to-face care during the pandemic is a major contributing factor. Fatalities rose along with lockdowns in the UK when patients had to either wait or schedule a virtual appointment.

Many individuals were already turning more to drugs and alcohol to cope during the isolating and uncertain pandemic. Losing in-person appointments and lower quality of care only made things worse for individuals with substance use disorders.

Over half of those who died were seeking opiate addiction treatment, with heroin the most common drug involved. A little over a quarter were suffering from alcohol addiction. The remaining fatalities were people in treatment for substances besides opioids, including those addicted to both drugs and alcohol. Heroin users in particular struggled with the lack of face-to-face rehab options, but no group was immune.

The UK government doesn’t specifically connect excess deaths directly to overdoses or other specific causes. Yet analysis suggests this striking rise in drug-related fatalities could perhaps have been reduced with higher-quality, face-to-face care.

Scarce Availability of Medically Supervised Detox Options

Part of the problem seems to have been a lack of detox services with medical supervision. Specifically, less testing for liver diseases and infections that frequently occur alongside addiction may have contributed to unnecessary deaths. 

Pre-pandemic, patients would have been under daily supervision and had their dosage adjusted. Instead, they now could take home a month’s supply of prescription medications like methadone. Furthermore, when seeing patients in person, a doctor may notice when a patient is struggling. But when that doctor no longer assesses their patients in person, the burden falls on the patient to self-report problems.

Additionally, the intimacy of traditional face-to-face rehab, where doctors and other staff genuinely get to know and care for their patients, was harder online. Patients were left to go it alone, without the help of the close, in-person social network they typically form with staff and peers in a rehab facility.

While virtual rehab is better than nothing at all, and some patients benefit from the convenience of online appointments, traditional in-person rehab is still the way to go when possible. That’s why Clear Life Recovery, as a leading drug rehab center in Orange County, California, focuses on providing personalized and high-quality face-to-face care for all of our patients.

Highly Personalized Luxury Drug Rehab in Orange County

In-person rehab is much more effective than virtual rehab. Even better is a luxury rehab treatment center, offering patients greater levels of individualized care, such as Clear Life Recovery. Our patients are treated to a spa-like experience complete with outings to the beach and gym, nutrition and fitness therapy, and acupuncture.

Being welcomed into a top-quality facility run by caring staff makes patients feel comfortable, safe, and like they are in the best possible place to get well. Virtual care can’t offer anything close to the level of support our patients experience on a daily basis.

Clear Life Recovery provides our patients with everything they need to get off of drugs and live a long, healthy life of sobriety. Contact our professional, compassionate to reach us with your questions or enroll in our treatment program.

Sources
[1] https://www.apa.org/monitor/2021/03/substance-use-pandemic