ERIC Number: EJ888870
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0889-7077
EISSN: N/A
Medical Students' Experiences with Addicted Patients: A Web-Based Survey
Midmer, Deana; Kahan, Meldon; Wilson, Lynn
Substance Abuse, v29 n1 p25-32 2008
Project CREATE was an initiative to strengthen undergraduate medical education in addictions. As part of a needs assessment, forty-six medical students at Ontario's five medical schools completed a bi-weekly, interactive web-based survey about addiction-related learning events. In all, 704 unique events were recorded, for an average of 16.7 entries per student. The most commonly discussed topic was alcohol withdrawal and the complications of alcohol use. The most common learning venues were lectures and clinical encounters in the emergency department or hospital. The proportion of advice-related topics (e.g., advice to drinkers and smokers) to advice plus non-advice related topics (e.g., medical complications) was greater for outpatient and community settings than for acute care and didactic settings (ratio 1.29, chi sq 15.85, p less than 0.01). Students reacted strongly to the psychosocial impact of addictions on patients, yet they viewed addiction as a personal choice, not an illness. Conclusion: Medical students are not being trained to diagnose addiction or provide advice and counseling. Medical schools need to provide students with positive clinical experiences supervised by physicians experienced in addictions. (Contains 3 tables.)
Descriptors: Medical Education, Medical Students, Substance Abuse, Medical Schools, Needs Assessment, Physicians, Drinking, Patients, Internet, Program Descriptions, Surveys, Addictive Behavior, Alcohol Abuse, Clinical Experience, Smoking, Student Attitudes, Foreign Countries
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A