Implementation of an online and in-person addiction medicine course and its impact on medical students’ knowledge on substance use disorders

Abstract

Background

Substance use is a public health crisis that requires improved education on substance use disorders (SUDs) in medical school curriculum to ensure that the future generation of physicians is prepared to care for this growing patient population.

Objectives

This study evaluates how the implementation of an online and in-person addiction medicine course impacted medical students’ knowledge on SUD and caring for patients with SUD.

Methods

86 third-year and fourth-year medical students participated in either an online or in-person elective course on addiction medicine. Students learned about SUDs through various modalities, such as online SUD modules, clinical encounters, movies, books, participation in support group meetings and learning evidence-based tools to screen or treat patients. To assess the impact of the course curriculum on students’ knowledge in treating SUDs, a pre and post survey was administered and analyzed.

Results

After completing the SUD course, students showed significant improvement (P < 0.01) in caring for SUD patients. Specifically, they improved in the areas of: assessing a patient with SUD, comfort and knowledge in using motivational interviewing to affect behavior change in a patient with a SUD, and knowledge of community resources related to SUD. Students also showed a significant improvement (P < 0.01) in the number of unique SUDs (such as opioids or alcohol) they felt knowledgeable about and in the number of treatment modalities for unique SUDs.

Conclusions

Implementation of an addiction medicine course that utilizes various teaching modalities can significantly improve medical students’ fundamental knowledge on SUD.

Keywords:

• Addiction medicine
• substance use disorder
• medical school education

Acknowledgments

The authors wants to acknowledge the Los Angeles Centers for Alcohol and Drug Abuse (LACADA) team for their support and education of our Keck School of Medicine of USC students over many years.

Disclosure statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.