Integrating substance abuse education in the medical student curriculum

Physicians miss the diagnosis of substance abuse in significant numbers of patients, partly because of a lack of education about identifying and treating those patients. This article describes an attempt to integrate substance abuse into the curriculum of a traditionally organized medical school. Faculty selection, determination of the skills and knowledge needed, and methods for enriching the curriculum to include substance abuse are described. Problems encountered during the project, benefits of implementing the curriculum changes, and recommendations for other medical schools choosing to implement such a program also are provided.