Impact of a brief addiction medicine training experience on knowledge self-assessment among medical learners

ABSTRACT

Background: Implementation of evidence-based approaches to the treatment of various substance use disorders is needed to tackle the existing epidemic of substance use and related harms. Most clinicians, however, lack knowledge and practical experience with these approaches. Given this deficit, the authors examined the impact of an inpatient elective in addiction medicine amongst medical trainees on addiction-related knowledge and medical management. Methods: Trainees who completed an elective with a hospital-based Addiction Medicine Consult Team (AMCT) in Vancouver, Canada, from May 2015 to May 2016, completed a 9-item self-evaluation scale before and immediately after the elective. Results: A total of 48 participants completed both pre and post AMCT elective surveys. On average, participants were 28 years old (interquartile range [IQR] = 27–29) and contributed 20 days (IQR = 13–27) of clinical service. Knowledge of addiction medicine increased significantly post elective (mean difference [MD] = 8.63, standard deviation [SD] = 18.44; P = .002). The most and the least improved areas of knowledge were relapse prevention and substance use screening, respectively. Conclusions: Completion of a clinical elective with a hospital-based AMCT appears to improve medical trainees' addiction-related knowledge. Further evaluation and expansion of addiction medicine education is warranted to develop the next generation of skilled addiction care providers.

KEYWORDS:

• Medical education
• program evaluation
• prospective studies
• substance-related disorders

Acknowledgments

We thank participants for completing the surveys and staff for assisting with fellowship administration: Bastian Weitzel, Margaret Dergez, Trish Bondoc, Elaine Fernandes, Carmen Rock, Lindsay Farrell, Deborah Graham, and Tricia Collingham. The authors declare they have no conflicts of interest.

Funding

The US National Institutes of Health (R25DA037756) supported the study. This research was undertaken, in part, thanks to funding from the Canada Research Chairs program through a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Inner City Medicine that supports Dr. Evan Wood. The ELEVATE: Irish Research Council International Career Development Fellowship—co-funded by Marie Cure Actions (ELEVATEPD/2014/6); and the European Commission grant (701698)—supported Dr. Jan Klimas. The funding organization had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Author contributions

J.K. and E.W. designed the study and drafted the first version of the manuscript. K.A. and S.N. oversaw the data collection and survey development. C.F., M.M., and A.M. contributed to study design. All authors reviewed and approved the manuscript.