Towards a research agenda for addiction education in Europe, u21 poster
u21 health sciences group 2020 virtual meeting: A collaborative approach to healthcare was hosted by University College Dublin from August 25th – 28th. Here is a summary of my research submitted to the virtual meeting. (more…)
How to find non-academic mentors
Mentors facilitate professional development in academia. But non-academic mentors are equally important. Here, I acknowledge non-academic mentors and their contribution to my development as a professional and as a person.
Engage in not for profit organizations.
Two organizations jump started my work in non-profits, the University Pastoral Centre and a youth club. I learned the power of community building through youth activism with John Lesondak and taught team building for non-profits with Ivan Humenik. With Ivan and friends, we also had a musical band, JK& band. These activities inspired me to get involved in the community projects for people who use drugs. (more…)
Can Community First Responders reverse Cardiac arrests?
Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is a major cause of death. It occurs when a person’s heart stops pumping blood around the body. It is most often caused by an abnormal heart rhythm. Cardiac arrest causes death within minutes unless this rhythm restarts. (more…)
Off the record: addictions in medical schools
“If it’s not recorded, it didn’t happen.”
– An old saying
We wanted to find out how much teaching on addiction get on medical students. In 2011, our colleagues Sarah O’Brien and Professor Cullen searched PubMed (online database of medical papers) for published literature on training of undergraduate medical students in addiction
There is currently no documentation of drug addiction teaching sessions in Irish medical schools.
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| photocredit: mrmediatraining.com |
We looked at other medical databases and we also searched websites of all 6 medical schools in Ireland. We have searched the literature published after October 2009.
We found nothing in the medical databases. Schools’ homepages did not mention addiction either.
A telephone survey may provide a more accurate representation of how addiction medicine education is incorporated into the medical school curricula.
Substance use disorders are a worldwide problem, and have become a major health concern in Ireland particularly.
In their new position paper on addiction, the Irish Medical Organisation recognized the lacking education and called for “appropriate training of all physicians in treatment of addiction” (Irish Medical Organisation, 2015). Although the science behind addiction treatment has discovered new treatments for addiction, the medical doctors don’t know about them, mainly because they get no training on addiction. As a result, they feel unprepared to treat people with addiction who receive inadequate care.
To cite this article: Mitch Wilson, Walter Cullen, Christine Goodair & Jan Klimas (2016): Off the record: Substance-related disorders in the undergraduate medical curricula in Ireland. Journal of Substance Use, DOI: 10.3109/14659891.2015.1112853
General practice is a key route for distribution of naloxone in the community
Naloxone is an antidote to opioid overdose also known as Narcan.
Irish family doctors in training want Narcan to be more available and want to distribute it.
We poled 136 Irish family doctors attending a training conference. They were in their third and final years of residency.
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| photocredit: oxywatchdog.com |
We found that trainees have real experience of the problem at an early phase of their careers, and
trainees are conscious of the needs of people with opioid use disorders and the potential of family medicine to meet these needs, but trainees receive little structured preparation for this role.
Irish family doctors in training are keen to distribute Naloxone in the community.
More people die in Ireland due to opioid overdoses than in car accidents.
Naloxone can save lives. Ireland has approximately 640 doctors in specialist training for family medicine at any time. Although 60% of them have administered Naloxone to a person in overdose, only 13% of their training clinics prescribe methadone to people with opioid use disorders.
Reference:
Klimas, J., Tobin, H., Egan, M., Barry, T., Bury, G. (2016) General Practice – a key route for distribution of naloxone in the community. Experience, interest and training needs in Ireland. J Int Drug Policy, 38:1-3