Docs Need to Learn More About Drugs

A study published earlier this month confirmed what we already suspected: docs-in-training are not getting much information about substance abuse.

"Despite the fact that the substance use is responsible for an enormous burden of disease in their patients, and evidence-based screening approaches have been developed, physicians often fail to identify and treat substance abuse routinely," said Dr. Patrick O'Connor, chief of Internal Medicine at Yale and lead author of the paper.

"This may result not only in ongoing substance use and its complications, but also in inadequate treatment of the medical conditions for which their patients are being seen."

O'Connor and his colleagues made the following recommendations to address the training deficit: 

• raise the priority for substance abuse education (give it the same importance as training for other chronic diseases);
• enhance faculty development (accrediting organizations should require faculty expertise in addiction medicine);
• provide organizational infrastructure (put specific faculty and departments in charge of substance abuse education -- preferably, a multidisciplinary team);
• integrate core competencies into resident training (epidemiology, screening, assessment, intervention, and pharmacological management); and
• make substance abuse screening and management routine in primary care.

The article was published in the January 4th issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.

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