Where science meets meditative solutions

Tired, overwhelmed, or stressed out?
Worried about the future and what it may bring?
Then join us for the Spring Session of an 8 week meditation course taught by Brown University qualified teachers Dr. Jano Klimas & Michelle Anne Huser. (more…)
Off the record: addictions in medical schools

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photocredit: mrmediatraining.com |
What do persons on methadone in primary care think about alcohol screening?

Enhancing alcohol screening and brief intervention among people receiving opioid agonist treatment: Qualitative study in primary care
New Paper Out Now
Although very common, excessive drinking by people who also use other drugs is rarely studied by scientists. The purpose of this study was to find out patient’s and clinicians’ opinions about addressing this issue. All of them took part in a study called PINTA – Psychosocial interventions for problem alcohol use among problem drug users.
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photocredit: emerald |
Doctors reported obstacles to addressing heavy drinking and overlooking and underestimating this problem in this population.
Patients revealed that their drinking was rarely spoken about and feared that their methadone would be withheld.
Read the full article in the latest issue of the Drugs and Alcohol Today: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/loi/dat
See also my previous posts about the PINTA study:
New paper out now: Psychosocial Interventions for Alcohol use among problem drug users
Beg, steel or borrow: getting physicians to recruit patients in clinical trials
Addiction Medicine Education for Healthcare Improvement Initiatives: New Paper out Now
2013
Honor pot: testing doctors’ drug counselling skills in a new pilot study in Ireland
Fidelity questions
Why Empirically Supported Psychosocial Treatments Are Important for Drug Users? New research project
XXV Annual Meeting & Canadian Scientific Conference 2015 CSAM – SMCA (#WhatTheFentanyl #abhealth)
What is the future of addiction medicine? What is the future addiction specialist going to look like? Nobody knows what the future is going to look like, but the delegates of the 25th CSAM annual conference imagined answers to these questions in Banff, Alberta at the Banff Centre on Tunnel Mountain. As a first comer to the conference, I had a lot to learn and a lot to write down. Read more below.
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photocredit: csam-smca.org |
Seven high-profile experts explored trends at home and abroad and the scientific topics impacting the future of addiction treatment delivery in their keynote plenaries.
AMERSA 39th Annual National Conference
November 5th, the national conference of the Association for Medical Education and Research in Addiction – AMERSA 39th – took place in Washington, DC. With 75% of the 225 delegates being new to the conference, the conference dynamics enlivened. As a rather small association with only 1 FTE, it is doing great in attracting so many new delegates. To see what lectures they got to hear, read my notes from the Keynote speeches below.
There is no room for prosecutors in the delivery room
Dr Paltrow questioned who gets the rights when it comes to pregnant drug users. While the laws in many US states try to protect the unborn child, in reality it is the judge, the county and the attorney who gets the rights. Is this the protection of the unborn or of the system? Dr Paltrow’s mother smoked during pregnancy:
“Maybe if my mom wasn’t smoking throughout her pregnancy, I might have been a for-profit lawyer.”
To reduce the stigmatisation of pregnant women with substance use disorders, make sure to “use the word use” – not Abuse, neither drug-dependent newborn. If you are asked to drug test when you shouldn’t, it is a moral obligation to do civil disobedience. The medical education should include teaching the risks that clinicians carry when they report pregnant women who use drugs.
What is appropriate counselling?
Betty Ford Award Plenary Session at the AMERSA 39th Annual National Conference
“No matter what is the dimension of drinking, the diversity is there.”
If you enjoyed reading about this year’s conference, you may like to read my notes from the previous year, 38th meeting in San Francisco, CA, November 4th, 2014.