Substance Use Disorder Training Workshop for Future Interprofessional Health Care Providers

Rates of substance use disorders, including opioid misuse, continue to rise despite national initiatives. Because of this, health professional schools from Rhode Island joined together to design and implement a single-day interprofessional education workshop on substance use disorder training.

This workshop consists of four sessions. The first is a patient panel featuring both patients recovering from substance use disorders and their health care providers. Next is a naloxone administration training session. This is followed by a standardized patient session featuring an individual who requires nonopioid options for chronic pain treatment and in which health professional students work together to take a history, perform a physical examination, and develop a treatment plan. Finally, the last session is a complex paper-based case study focusing on a homeless individual with diverse medical problems requiring multifaceted care.

A total of 540 students from a variety of health care professions participated in the workshop. Students were asked to evaluate each component of the workshop, as well as the workshop overall, on a 6-point Likert scale (1 = poor, 6 = outstanding). Students rated the overall workshop at 76% (4.54 out of 6), and the sessions received ratings ranging from 67% (4.01 out of 6 for the case study) to 83% (4.96 out of 6 for the patient/provider panel).

This curriculum can be adapted and implemented at other medical schools to provide opportunities for future health care professionals to learn how to work effectively in interprofessional teams to manage substance use disorders.