Teaching about Substance Abuse with Objective Structured Clinical Exams.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Addiction Medicine
• Clinical Skills Assessment

Background:

• Optimal methods for teaching substance abuse interviewing and intervention skills to residents are not well-established.
• Residents frequently manage patients with substance abuse disorders, highlighting the need for effective training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the performance of residents during a Substance Abuse Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE).
• To assess the association between OSCE performance and residents' self-reported interest and competence in substance abuse.
• To evaluate the learning impact of the OSCE, including performance improvement.

Main Methods:

• A five-station OSCE was administered over two years to 131 internal and family medicine residents.
• Faculty and standardized patients assessed residents' communication, assessment, and management skills.
• Residents completed pre- and post-OSCE surveys on interest, competence, and educational value, with learning assessed by performance changes.

Main Results:

• Residents demonstrated stronger general communication skills than assessment or management skills.
• Performance was lowest in the alcohol abuse station, and not correlated with self-assessed interest or competence.
• The OSCE was perceived as highly valuable, and feedback led to improved performance.

Conclusions:

• Internal and family medicine residents need further training in specialized substance abuse skills.
• The Substance Abuse OSCE with immediate feedback effectively teaches essential skills for assessing and managing substance abuse disorders.