Educational strategies for clinicians

Largely because of a lack of training, many primary care physicians are unaware of how they can prevent, detect, or manage substance abuse within their clinical practice. The educational process used to develop a teaching unit can be simplified by initially asking a few directed questions. The answers to these questions determine what needs to be taught while facilitating the subsequent steps of determining learning goals and objectives and selecting appropriate teaching materials and strategies. Evaluating the teaching unit on at least a cursory level provides useful information for future planning. A variety of curriculum manuals and clinical text parts can be readily incorporated into teaching units. These same sources can alternatively be adapted to an individual's own self-directed course of study. Incorporation of experimental educational strategies is especially useful in substance abuse instruction. Including recovering individuals, attendance at self-help group meetings, and role play exercises are all useful experimental strategies for engaging the learner. Tapping into organizational resources and networking with others involved in similar activities enhances one's potential through the sharing of information and through the synergism created by networking with others.