Health Professional
Training

The Addiction Training for Health Professionals program offers training directly and with our institutional partners, teaching physicians and other providers in training and practice how to assess, treat, and refer patients with substance use disorders. Objectives for health professional training include:

 

  1. Increasing the number of health professionals specializing in addiction medicine.
  2. Maximizing the number of physicians and other providers in all settings who are trained to competently and compassionately assess, prevent, and treat addictive diseases. 
  3. Reducing stigma related to substance use disorders so that healthcare providers are more willing and better able to assess, prevent, and treat addictive diseases.
  4. Help physicians and other healthcare providers understand that their personal substance use habits influence their patient care and the likelihood of assessing, preventing, and treating those with substance use disorders, and cause them to resultantly improve their personal and clinical substance-related practices.

 

We also support addiction education by providing materials for free that can be used by:

 

  • Addiction Medicine fellowship programs or by physicians pursuing the practice pathway to sub-specializing in Addiction Medicine.
  • Residency programs that lead to addiction specialization, including psychiatric and preventive medicine residencies.
  • Medical school (and other health provider training programs’) rotations and electives in primary care or psychiatry. 
  • Public health programs, since these materials are also part of the preventive medicine residency for physicians, and a public health lens is essential to effectively and efficiently prevent and treat substance use disorders. 
  • A concentration for the Masters in Public Health in addiction medicine and mental health 
  • Continuing professional development for practicing health professionals.

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Did you know?

In the United States, there are:

  • Addiction Medicine Fellowships: 87 accredited programs1 
  • Psychiatry Residency Programs: about 300 programs with 5,535 active residents,2 with 98 specializing in addiction medicine, and 64 specializing in addiction psychiatry.
  • Preventive Medicine Residencies: 71 accredited programs with 350 residents3
  • Medical Schools: 192 medical schools with 29,746 students4 enrolled (2019).
  • Public Health Programs: Over 1,400 public health programs5 with >30,000 degrees6 awarded in public health each year.  Further, 42% of medical schools7 assist medical students in obtaining master’s level public health degrees, providing opportunities to reach many physicians and other healthcare providers with addictive disease training.
  • Continuing education programs for professional development: there are 936,254 active U.S. physicians8 in all specialties who can use these freely available materials to assist in their practice.

 

References 

 

  1. Balasanova, A., Ritvo, A., Yager, J. (2021) Addiction psychiatry and addiction medicine – Strange bedfellows or separated at birth? Substance Abuse. https://doi.org/10.1080
  2. Report on Residents. (2021) Association of American Medical Colleges. https://www.aamc.org/data-reports/students-residents/interactive-data/report-residents/2021/table-b5-md-residents-race-ethnicity-and-specialty  
  3. Residency Programs. (2018) American College of Preventive Medicine.
  4. Kalter, Lindsay. (2019) U.S. medical school enrollment rises 30%. Association of American Medical Colleges. https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/us-medical-school-enrollment-rises-30 
  5. MPH Program Guide for 2020 and Beyond. (2021) MPH Program. https://www.mphprogram.com/ 
  6. Data USA: Public Health. (2019) Data USA. https://datausa.io/profile/cip/public-health 
  7. Directory of MD-MPH Educational Opportunities. (2021) Association of American Medical Colleges.
  8. Physician Specialty Data Report. (2020) Association of American Medical Colleges. https://www.aamc.org/data-reports/workforce/interactive-data/active-physicians-sex-and-specialty-2019
“I feel confident that this course will enable me to better serve Kentuckians in my career as a future physician.”
Substance Use Course Enrollee
Substance Use Course Enrollee
“After years of infertility due to excessive alcohol use, I stopped drinking completely after I joined this study. Immediately afterward, I became pregnant. My husband and I are grateful for this study.”*
Patient
Patient*Used with permission