Combined training in addiction medicine and research is feasible and acceptable for physicians – a new study shows; however, there are important barriers to overcome and improved understanding of the experience of addiction physicians in the clinician-scientist track is required.
Addiction care is usually provided by unskilled lay-persons in most countries. The resulting care is inadequate, effective treatments are overlooked and millions of people suffer despite recent discovery of new treatments for substance use disorders. In rare instances when addiction care is provided by medical professionals, they are not adequately trained in caring for people with substance use disorders and, therefore, feel unprepared to provide such care. Physician scientists are the bridge between science and practice. Despite large evidence-base upon which to base clinical practice, most health systems have not combined training of healthcare providers in addiction medicine and research.
In recent years, new programmes have emerged to train the comprehensive addiction medicine professionals internationally.
We undertook a qualitative study to assess the experiences of 26 physicians who completed such a training programme in Vancouver, Canada. They included psychiatrists, internal medicine and family medicine physicians, faculty, mentors, medical students and residents. All received both addiction medicine and research training. Drawing on Kirkpatrick’s model of evaluating training programmes, we analysed the interviews thematically using qualitative data analysis software. We identified five themes relating to learning experience that were influential: (i) attitude, (ii) knowledge, (iii) skill, (iv) behaviour and (v) patient outcome. The presence of a supportive learning environment, flexibility in time lines, highly structured rotations, and clear guidance regarding development of research products facilitated clinician-scientist training. Competing priorities, to include clinical and family responsibilities, hindered training.
Read more here: http://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-017-0862-y
Klimas, J., McNeil, R., Ahamad, K., Mead, A., Rieb, L., Cullen, W., Wood, E., Small, W. (2017) Two birds with one stone: Experiences of Combining Clinical and Research Training in Addiction Medicine. BMC Medical Education, 17:22