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Addressing the growing opioid and heroin abuse epidemic: a call for medical school curricula
Substance abuse is a growing public health concern in the USA (US), especially now that the US faces a national drug overdose epidemic. Over the past decade, the number of drug overdose deaths has rapidly grown, largely driven by increases in prescription opioid-related overdoses. In recent years, i...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Taylor & Francis
2018
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5933286/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29708863 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2018.1466574 |
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author | Ratycz, Madison C. Papadimos, Thomas J. Vanderbilt, Allison A. |
author_facet | Ratycz, Madison C. Papadimos, Thomas J. Vanderbilt, Allison A. |
author_sort | Ratycz, Madison C. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Substance abuse is a growing public health concern in the USA (US), especially now that the US faces a national drug overdose epidemic. Over the past decade, the number of drug overdose deaths has rapidly grown, largely driven by increases in prescription opioid-related overdoses. In recent years, increased heroin and illicitly manufactured fentanyl overdoses have substantially contributed to the rise of overdose deaths. Given the role of physicians in interacting with patients who are at risk for or currently abusing opioids and heroin, it is essential that physicians are aware of this issue and know how to respond. Unfortunately, medical school curricula do not devote substantial time to addiction education and many physicians lack knowledge regarding assessment and management of opioid addiction. While some schools have modified curricula to include content related to opioid prescription techniques and pain management, an added emphasis about the growing role of heroin and fentanyl is needed to adequately address the epidemic. By adapting curricula to address the rising opioid and heroin epidemic, medical schools have the potential to ensure that our future physicians can effectively recognize the signs, symptoms, and risks of opioid/heroin abuse and improve patient outcomes. This article proposes ways to include heroin and fentanyl education into medical school curricula and highlights the potential of simulation-based medical education to enable students to develop the skillset and emotional intelligence necessary to work with patients struggling with opioid and heroin addiction. This will result in future doctors who are better prepared to both prevent and recognize opioid and heroin addiction in patients, an important step in helping reduce the number of addicted patients and address the drug overdose epidemic. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5933286 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | Taylor & Francis |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-59332862018-05-07 Addressing the growing opioid and heroin abuse epidemic: a call for medical school curricula Ratycz, Madison C. Papadimos, Thomas J. Vanderbilt, Allison A. Med Educ Online Feature Article Substance abuse is a growing public health concern in the USA (US), especially now that the US faces a national drug overdose epidemic. Over the past decade, the number of drug overdose deaths has rapidly grown, largely driven by increases in prescription opioid-related overdoses. In recent years, increased heroin and illicitly manufactured fentanyl overdoses have substantially contributed to the rise of overdose deaths. Given the role of physicians in interacting with patients who are at risk for or currently abusing opioids and heroin, it is essential that physicians are aware of this issue and know how to respond. Unfortunately, medical school curricula do not devote substantial time to addiction education and many physicians lack knowledge regarding assessment and management of opioid addiction. While some schools have modified curricula to include content related to opioid prescription techniques and pain management, an added emphasis about the growing role of heroin and fentanyl is needed to adequately address the epidemic. By adapting curricula to address the rising opioid and heroin epidemic, medical schools have the potential to ensure that our future physicians can effectively recognize the signs, symptoms, and risks of opioid/heroin abuse and improve patient outcomes. This article proposes ways to include heroin and fentanyl education into medical school curricula and highlights the potential of simulation-based medical education to enable students to develop the skillset and emotional intelligence necessary to work with patients struggling with opioid and heroin addiction. This will result in future doctors who are better prepared to both prevent and recognize opioid and heroin addiction in patients, an important step in helping reduce the number of addicted patients and address the drug overdose epidemic. Taylor & Francis 2018-04-30 /pmc/articles/PMC5933286/ /pubmed/29708863 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2018.1466574 Text en © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Feature Article Ratycz, Madison C. Papadimos, Thomas J. Vanderbilt, Allison A. Addressing the growing opioid and heroin abuse epidemic: a call for medical school curricula |
title | Addressing the growing opioid and heroin abuse epidemic: a call for medical school curricula |
title_full | Addressing the growing opioid and heroin abuse epidemic: a call for medical school curricula |
title_fullStr | Addressing the growing opioid and heroin abuse epidemic: a call for medical school curricula |
title_full_unstemmed | Addressing the growing opioid and heroin abuse epidemic: a call for medical school curricula |
title_short | Addressing the growing opioid and heroin abuse epidemic: a call for medical school curricula |
title_sort | addressing the growing opioid and heroin abuse epidemic: a call for medical school curricula |
topic | Feature Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5933286/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29708863 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2018.1466574 |
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