Substance misuse teaching in undergraduate medical education

Carroll, Janine, Goodair, Christine, Chaytor, Andrew, Notley, Caitlin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0876-3304, Ghodse, Hamid and Kopelman, Peter (2014) Substance misuse teaching in undergraduate medical education. BMC Medical Education, 14. ISSN 1472-6920

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Abstract

Background Over 12,000 hospital admissions in the UK result from substance misuse, therefore issues surrounding this need to be addressed early on in a doctor’s training to facilitate their interaction with this client group. Currently, undergraduate medical education includes teaching substance misuse issues, yet how this is formally integrated into the curriculum remains unclear. Methods Semi-structured interviews with 17 key members of staff responsible for the whole or part of the undergraduate medical curriculum were conducted to identify the methods used to teach substance misuse. Using a previously devised toolkit, 19 curriculum co-ordinators then mapped the actual teaching sessions that addressed substance misuse learning objectives. Results Substance misuse teaching was delivered primarily in psychiatry modules but learning objectives were also found in other areas such as primary care placements and problem-based learning. On average, 53 teaching sessions per medical school focused on bio-psycho-social models of addiction whereas only 23 sessions per medical school focused on professionalism, fitness to practice and students’ own health in relation to substance misuse. Many sessions addressed specific learning objectives relating to the clinical features of substance dependence whereas few focused on iatrogenic addiction. Conclusions Substance misuse teaching is now inter-disciplinary and the frequent focus on clinical, psychological and social effects of substance misuse emphasises the bio-psycho-social approach underlying clinical practice. Some areas however are not frequently taught in the formal curriculum and these need to be addressed in future changes to medical education.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Epidemiology and Public Health Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Public Health and Health Services Research (former - to 2023) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Lifespan Health
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	25 Feb 2014 13:24
Last Modified:	27 Oct 2023 01:17
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/47825
DOI:	10.1186/1472-6920-14-34

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