A 21 y/o has surgery for a condition expected to improve. He fills a discharge prescription for 5 days of an opioid at a standard dose. At 1-week follow-up with his family doctor for suture removal, he describes ongoing pain. Can prescribers avoid contributing to opioid use disorder? Is a renewal of opioid appropriate, potentially dangerous, or both? Read more …
Can prescribers avoid contributing to opioid use disorder?
So what has the Cochrane membership done for me? Inspired by Dr Jeremy Grimshaw’s question: “So what has the Cochrane Collaboration ever done for us?” I submit a report card, a mosaic of my previous blogs, on my first 10 years with Cochrane.
We wanted to find out whether newly trained professionals working in addiction medicine around the world felt they had enough and appropriate training to treat individuals with addictions.
| QUICK FACT: There are international differences in the training quality and type given to professionals in addiction medicine, and their training needs. |
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.
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…)
Closing the gap between training needs and training provision in addiction medicine
Substance use disorders pose a significant global social and economic burden. Although effective interventions exist, treatment coverage remains limited.
The lack of an adequately trained workforce is one of the prominent reasons.
Recent initiatives improved training nationally, but further efforts are required to build curricula that are internationally applicable. We therefore believe that the training needs of professionals in the area have not yet been explored in sufficient detail.
We propose that a peer-led survey to assess those needs, using a standardised structured tool, would help to overcome this deficiency.
The findings from such a survey could be used to develop a core set of competencies which is sufficiently flexible in its implementation to address the specific needs of the wide range of professionals working in addiction medicine worldwide.
Source: Arya, S., Delic, M., Ruiz, B., Klimas, J., Papanti, D., Stepanov, A., . . . Krupchanka, D. (2019). Closing the gap between training needs and training provision in addiction medicine. BJPsych International, 1-3. doi:10.1192/bji.2019.27
If you enjoyed reading about this research, you might enjoy reading about a similar needs assessment here:
Scoping the needs of early career addiction specialists, Protocol