Clinical Experience and Student Support for Medical Cannabis Use: A Secondary Analysis

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Public Health
• Cannabis Research

Background:

• Medical cannabis (MC) legalization is expanding in the US.
• Understanding healthcare students' attitudes toward MC is crucial for education and clinical practice.
• Reducing stigma in patient care requires informed healthcare professionals.

Purpose of the Study:

• Examine factors influencing healthcare students' support for medical cannabis use (SFMCU).
• Investigate the impact of clinical experience, personal use, and demographics on SFMCU.
• Analyze variations in SFMCU across different patient vignette scenarios.

Main Methods:

• Secondary analysis of data from 349 science and healthcare majors.
• Measured SFMCU using four clinical vignettes.
• Employed linear mixed-effects modeling to analyze variability.

Main Results:

• Clinical experience correlated with lower SFMCU (p < .001).
• Personal cannabis use correlated with higher SFMCU (p < .001).
• Older age and male gender predicted higher SFMCU (p < .05); support varied by vignette.

Conclusions:

• Clinical experience, personal use, and demographics significantly influence students' MC attitudes.
• Healthcare students with clinical experience showed less support, potentially due to norms or stigma.
• Evidence-based MC education is needed in curricula to prepare informed, stigma-free professionals.