Medical schools throughout the UK are calling for substance misuse training to become part of every trainee doctors course in response to the number of drink and drug-related hospital cases.
A survey of 32 medical schools by The International Centre for Drugs Policy (ICDP) based at St Georges, University of London, found that across the UK, students training on substance misuse was patchy and uncoordinated with the subject often viewed as a specialism.
Statistics show, however, that substance misuse is something most doctors will come across very regularly in their work. According to the ICDP, alcohol is responsible for up to a quarter of all hospital admissions and up to 70 per cent of admissions to A&E departments. One in 12 adults seen by a doctor will have used illegal drugs in the last year and more than a third of a GPs patients will be smokers.
The ICDP has published a report on substance misuse topics that should be included on the medical schools curricula. These range from treatment regimes for different drug addictions to how to deal with drunk and aggressive patients. The guidelines also aim to remove the stigma attached to addiction to improve the way such patients are treated.
ICDP director Professor Hamid Ghodse said: The misuse of alcohol, drugs and tobacco is one of the biggest health challenges today. It impacts not just on the health but also the wider lives of those using these substances, their families, their colleagues and the wider society. Those who misuse substances will inevitably, at some stage, be seen by doctors, who therefore have a vital role to play in recognising substance misuse and in assessing and managing the problems associated with this.
Substance Misuse in the Undergraduate Medical Curriculum has been a project funded by the Department of Health, steered by a committee representing all the UKs medical schools, the General Medical Council, World Health Organisation, British Medical Association, Association for the Study of Medical Education, student groups, and government departments responsible for drug and health policy.
Source: www.sgul.ac.uk
Posted: 30th April 2007
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