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Centers of Excellence on Physician Education |
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In collaboration with the AMA, NIDA has created Centers of Excellence on Physician Education to serve as models for advancing addiction awareness, prevention, and treatment in primary care. The project will begin to release products (11 total) starting April 2009. http://www.nida.nih.gov/coe.html
Creighton University is focusing on Methamphetamine and developing a scale to assess knowledge gaps and a drug abuse curriculum guide: http://medschool.creighton.edu/medicine/admin/ome/nida/index.php
Drexel University working on innovative web-based educational units for medical students and residents: Click Here
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NC Medical Journal dedicated to SA |
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The current issue of the NC Medical Journal (Jan/Feb 2009) is dedicated to Substance Abuse in North Carolina, the culmination of a 15 month Substance Abuse Task Force carried out by the NC Institute of Medicine at the request of the NC General Assembly. The Task Force was chaired by Rep. Verla Insko, Sen. Martin Nesbitt, and Dr. Dewayne Book. Dr. Pam Silberman of the NC IOM has insightfully articulated the important substance related issues, challenges, and opportunities we face in NC.
Please take a look at the issue brief and commentaries, one of which is written by Governor's Institute Board Chair David Friedman, PhD, and another by Governor's Institute Executive Director Sara McEwen, MD, MPH.
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Substance Abuse among North Carolina Adolescents |
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Substance Abuse among North Carolina Adolescents is a data system website operated by The Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University in collaboration with UNCG's Center for Youth, Family, and Community Partnerships and the North Carolina Division of Mental Health. This website examines various indicators of substance use in North Carolina communities by collating various publicly available data sources which include data from the State Bureau of Investigation-UCR, the Youth Risk behavior Survey, the Youth Tobacco Survey, and NC-DETECT. The main purpose is to highlight a few indicators of substance use, primarily among adolescents, and to identify patterns of substance abuse, and to show how these patterns vary by time and location.
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Click here for Polyglot 3.0. It is a free online language translator available through the Duke AHEC program, Duke University Medical Center. (Copyright 1998-2005)
Some of the features include:
- English-to-Spanish translation
- Spanish-to-English translation
- Easy quick reference tool with audio clips
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Observational follow up study lends support for Integrated Care |
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A 2001 randomized controlled trial among patients with substance use disorders (N=598) demonstrated that substance abuse treatment integrated with primary care increased abstinence at 6 months for patients with substance abuse-related medical conditions (SAMCs) but not for patients without SAMCs. In a follow-up study of the same sample, researchers sought to determine whether the original integrated care intervention combined with ongoing primary care services was associated with remission from substance use disorders at 5-year follow-up.
Article
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Subscribe to Alcohol, Other Drugs, and Health |
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Substance Abuse information and CME/CEU for physicians, family nurse practitioners certified counselors, and addiction counselors - click here.
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N&O on Institute of Medicine Report |
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Dr. Pam Silberman, on behalf of the North Carolina Institute of Medicine Substance Abuse Task Force, made recommendations to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on MHDDSAS on January 14, 2009. The report culminates a process that began in the fall of 2007 in which the Task Force was convened monthly to discuss how to improve substance abuse prevention and treatment in the state. Interim report recommendations can be accessed here. The full report will be posted later this month.
Institute board member David Friedman served on the Task Force and is quoted in the article. Executive Director Sara McEwen served on the Task Force Steering Committee. The Governor’s Institute is mentioned in several of the primary care/substance abuse integration and workforce recommendations. The recommendations of the task force will also be featured in the Jan/Feb issue of the North Carolina Medical Journal as well as articles by Dr. Friedman and Dr. McEwen.
While it looks to be a tough year to get new money, the Task Force recommends raising tobacco and beer/wine taxes that would more than cover the expense of all of the recommendations. The report makes a very strong case for the cost effectiveness of substance abuse prevention and treatment, citing a savings of $5 for every $1 invested in prevention. The report stresses the cost of not providing these services is much greater over the long term in increased health care costs, lost worker productivity, broken families, increased criminal justice expenses, and lost lives.
Advocacy will be necessary to move these recommendations along and we hope you will speak out when the time is right. We will keep you posted.
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