Effects of a Skills-Based Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) Curriculum on Medical Student Attitudes Towards Substance Use Disorders: A Medical Student’s Perspective [Letter]

Abstract

Bethan Bishop, Neel Badiani Faculty of Medicine, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, UKCorrespondence: Bethan Bishop Tel [phone]Email [email protected] Dear editorWe read with great interest the paper by Kidd et al1 investigating medical student attitudes towards substance use disorders (SUDs) before and after completing an Enhanced Pre-Clinical Skills-Based Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral toTreatment (SBIRT) Curriculum. This is an extremely relevant issue given the high prevalence of substance misuse and the potential for stigmatisation by healthcare professionals to lead to subpar care.2 The findings suggest that pre-clinical educationalinitiatives may promote positive attitudes towards SUDs in some domains but are less effective in others, particularly with regards to beliefs about the burden of SUD patients on healthcare systems. However, the study had several limitations and there is a lack of data on the long-term effectiveness of this early educationalintervention.   View the original paper by Kidd and colleagues

Keywords

• addiction
• alcohol
• drugs
• screening
• brief intervention
• medical education
• stigma