Potential Activities for Enhancing Education on Alcohol and Drugs at Medical Schools

I. Actions relevant to medical students:

A. Add new lectures and improve upon existing lecture formats regarding substance use and disorders in courses offered to year 1 and 2 students. These can include lectures on liver disease, neurology, AIDS and other immunodeficiencies, psychiatry, introductions to clinical medicine, and so on.

B. Offer an elective one-session noontime discussion for first- and second-year students dealing with the nature of substance use disorders, how to identify them among patients/school mates, relatives, and approaches for intervention.

C. Develop an elective for first or second-year students, including the ten-session, one hour each, patient description-oriented elective listed on the AMSP website.

D. Join with an ongoing Doctors Ought To Care (DOC) program, or help develop a new group if one does not exist. DOC offers medical students the opportunity to visit local schools to discuss issues related to alcohol and drugs.

E. Develop independent study programs for medical students where clinical or basic research issues focus on alcohol or drug use disorders.

F. Carry out a survey of existing medical school courses to document what is currently being offered on alcohol and drugs as a starting point for what needs to be done.

G. Work with the faculty responsible for the third or fourth year psychiatry clinical rotation to explore how lectures on alcohol and drugs can be fit into the curriculum, and how a rotation to an inpatient or outpatient substance use disorders treatment program might be instituted.

H. Work to become a member of your departmentπs Medical School Education Committee.

I. Meet with the Chair of your department and/or the Director of clinical services to determine how alcohol and drug-related education might be better incorporated. This will both provide information on AMSP, and enhance your visibility in the program.

J. Offer a special presentation to medical students on ≥How to Give a Lecture.≤

K. Develop a film series (or one session) to discuss alcohol and drug issues in the media.

L. Offer a program where students attend an AA meeting, with a faculty-led back-up discussion.

II. Efforts to consider in reaching out to residents in psychiatry, internal medicine, family practice, etc., masters and Ph.D. level psychology students, and other educational groups at your university:

A. Explore whether you can be appointed to the Residency Education Committee which will give you the opportunity of enhancing alcohol and drug education.

B. See whether you can become part of the Residency Selection Committee to enhance choosing individuals with an interest in alcohol and drug-related problems.

C. Work to incorporate alcohol and drug education into the lecture series on medical/psychiatric emergencies, and courses offered to introduce residents to issues related to major psychiatric disorders.

D. Offer residents a lecture on ≥How to Give a Lecture.≤

E. Create an inventory of current alcohol and drug education within the residency, as a basis for future expansion.

III. Educational Efforts Appropriate for Fellows:

A. Develop and/or enhance a lecture series on substance use disorders.

B. Explore whether any of the AMSP lectures can and should be offered to the fellows.

C. Offer to supervise fellows to enhance their education on substance use disorders.

D. Consider offering lectures to fellows, borrowing from those already developed on the AMSP website.

E. Consider working with other faculty to start up a fellowship in substance use disorders, clinical issues, or research, if one does not exist.

IV. Other Potential Activities:

A. Look toward developing in-service lectures on an alcohol or drug-related topic for nursing, social work, emergency room personnel, and so on.

B. Explore the possibility of establishing a liaison with a relevant teaching service to enhance education on alcohol and drugs.

C. Determine whether any medical school continuing medical education program would be open to incorporating lectures on alcohol and drugs, or if a symposium on this topic can be developed.

D. Consider working with Medical Student organizations like AMSA, AMWA to present a lecture, hold a forum and/or organize activities for alcohol awareness week.

E. Before/after attending the next AMSP meeting when you arrange for coverage and notify colleagues and staff that you will be away, use the opportunity to describe AMSP and your role AND put in a plug for them to use and view www.alcoholmedicalscholars.org.

F. Notify your university public relations that you are an AMSP Scholar and give them the information that you would be happy to serve as a contact person for any alcohol/drug media-related questions.