Best Practices for Creating an Addiction Curriculum Within Family Medicine Residency Programs: A Qualitative Analysis...

Primary care physicians are well-positioned to be at the forefront of screening for and treating substance use disorders (SUDs). In addition, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has deemed addiction training a common program requirement for all residency programs. With less than one-third of family medicine residency programs providing addiction training, understanding best practices for addiction training is important.

We interviewed 12 faculty at family medicine residency programs across the country who have a strong reputation for addiction training. We analyzed interview transcripts thematically to identify best practices for creating and providing addiction curricula.

Creating an addiction curriculum originates with an addiction champion who garners the support of clinical leadership and provides faculty development that is augmented by a multidisciplinary team of providers, often grant-supported. Coupling didactic learning with a wide array of experiential opportunities is important, particularly allowing residents to care for patients with SUDs longitudinally in their primary care clinics. Residency programs should anticipate stigma and associated resistance from clinic staff and providers and should work collaboratively to mitigate these.

Comprehensive and robust addiction training in family medicine residency training should include didactic and experiential learning opportunities with a well-supported and philosophically aligned clinical and educational culture that values caring for patients with SUDs.