An Asynchronous Curriculum to Address Substance Use Disorder Training Needs for Medical and Surgical Residents.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Addiction Medicine
• Public Health

Background:

• Substance use (SU) management presents a significant challenge in medical training.
• Residents in teaching hospitals often lack adequate support for addressing SU sequelae.
• There is a need for standardized core knowledge and skills in SU prevention and treatment for all medical trainees.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a core curriculum for medical interns on substance use (SU) prevention and treatment.
• To enhance residents' knowledge, confidence, and attitudes regarding SU.
• To identify and improve essential SU-related skills for medical and surgical trainees.

Main Methods:

• Development of three asynchronous online modules and one live skills session for interns.
• Topics covered included unhealthy SU screening, detection, intervention, bias and communication, and safer prescribing.
• A cohort of 68 interns completed the curriculum, with pre/posttesting to assess outcomes.

Main Results:

• Significant increases in knowledge scores, from 52% to 83% correct (P < .001).
• Perceived confidence levels improved notably, from 10 to 12.9 on a 16-point scale (P < .001).
• No significant change was observed in trainee attitudes towards substance use (P = .07).

Conclusions:

• The developed curriculum effectively improved core knowledge and skills in substance use (SU) for medical interns.
• The training enhanced residents' confidence in managing SU-related issues.
• This initiative provides a scalable model for enhancing SU education across medical specialties.