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1991.12.09 :  Report -- Substance Abuse Education

Contact: Charlotte Mehuron (301) 443-3376
December 9, 1991

     Substance abuse education and training in American medical
education is gravely deficient, and existing training does not
focus on the special problems of minorities and youth, according
to a U.S. Public Health Service report released today by HHS
Secretary Louis W. Sullivan, M.D.
     The Policy Report of the Physician Consortium on Substance
Abuse Education recommends major changes in undergraduate,
graduate and continuing medical education to help physicians cope
with the mounting problems of substance abuse in the United
States.  In addition, it advocates placing special emphasis on
the concerns of teen-agers, children and minorities in such
training.
     "Substance abuse is one of the most serious threats to the
health and well-being of Americans, and has been identified as
one of the major causes of poor health in minorities," Dr.
Sullivan said.  "Both individual and collective strategies, such
as those recommended by the consortium, are needed to improve
physician education if Americans' abuse of illegal substances is
to be reduced."
     In addition to noting the poor integration of substance
abuse training in general medical education, consortium members
found that physicians are often prejudiced against substance
abusers as patients, believing they have little chance for
recovery.  Some report recommendations:
     --There is a need for trained faculty who can serve as role
models in substance abuse education.
     --A basic graduate medical education faculty training course
in substance abuse should be offered in the specialties of family
medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and
gynecology, emergency medicine and psychiatry.
     --Medical education programs in substance abuse at all
levels should address the unique problems and needs of ethnic and
racial minority groups.
     --Physicians' practices must change.  Simply adding to
doctors' knowledge about substance abuse is not enough.
     --Continuing medical education programs must sensitize
doctors to the alcohol and substance abuse problems in their
patient populations.
     --Substance abuse training for physicians specializing in
adolescent medicine should be multidisciplinary, involving
cooperation between family medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry,
gynecology and internal medicine.
     The Physician Consortium on Substance Abuse Education was
organized in 1989 by the Health Resources and Services
Administration's Bureau of Health Professions to make 
recommendations for improving the quality of medical education
related to substance abuse.
     Consortium members represent 30 public and private medical
schools, societies and associations including the American
Medical Association, the Association of American Medical
Colleges, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical
Education and the 
American Association of Addiction Medicine.
     According to Robert G. Harmon, M.D., M.P.H., administrator
of the Health Resources and Services Administration, publication
of the report "is an historic event.  This is the first time that
representatives of so many national professional societies have
convened and achieved a published consensus on substance abuse
education for physicians."
     "As the report recommendations are implemented in medical
education, and physicians incorporate new knowledge and skills in
their practices, they will become ever more important in
diagnosing, treating and preventing the health problems brought
about by substance abuse," said Fitzhugh Mullan, M.D., director
of HRSA's Bureau of Health Professions.
     The Policy Report of the Physician Consortium on Substance
Abuse Education can be obtained by writing Marc Rivo, M.D.,
M.P.H.,  executive secretary of the Physician Consortium on
Substance Abuse and director of the Bureau of Health Professions'
Division of Medicine, HRSA, 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 4C-25,
Rockville, Md.  20857.
     HRSA is a Public Health Service agency within the Department
of Health and Human Services.

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