A collaborative approach to teaching medical students how to screen, intervene, and treat substance use disorders

Few medical schools require a stand-alone course to develop knowledge and skills relevant to substance use disorders (SUDs). The authors successfully initiated a new course for second-year medical students that used screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) as the course foundation. The 15-hour course (39 faculty teaching hours) arose from collaboration between faculty in Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry and included 5 hours of direct patient interaction during clinical demonstrations and in small-group skills development. Pre-and post-exam results suggest that the course had a significant impact on knowledge about SUDs. The authors experience demonstrates that collaboration between 2 clinical departments can produce a successful second-year medical student course based in SBIRT principles.