Community Psychiatry and Substance Use Disorder MS4 Clinical Elective. 4 Credit Hours

Catalog description

Learning objectives: Substance use disorder is a common psychiatric condition encountered with high frequency in psychiatric and other medical practice areas. However, physicians and other health professionals often receive little training in how to manage substance use disorder in routine clinical practice. In this 4-week elective experience, the student will 1) Assist in evaluation of typical community psychiatry outpatients, learn to effectively screen for substance use problems and learn to manage this psychiatric co-occurring condition in the outpatient setting. 2) Assist in formal substance use disorder evaluation and treatment in the Be Well substance use disorder treatment clinic including group psychotherapies and medication management of opioid, alcohol, and other substance use disorders. 3) Read and discuss 3-4 journal articles on substance use disorder topics over the 4-week period. 4) Receive and read other directed readings from the course directors relevant to patients treated in the clinics. Conditions: Medical students must complete the Psychiatry MS3 rotation prior to this elective. No visiting students may be enrolled. Most medical students will have very limited or no exposure to a comprehensive outpatient substance use disorder treatment clinic in their standard psychiatry rotation. This elective fills an important gap in training exposure that can benefit not only students applying to psychiatric residencies but also those applying to general medicine or other medical specialty residencies. Location: University Plaza Bldg., 7526 Louis Pasteur, 3rd floor. Types of instructional methods: Clinical demonstration and observation with attending physicians, residents, psychotherapists; 1:1 discussion with course director/ co-director during weekly 1-hour meetings. Average number of contact hours per week: 20 hours When offered and number of students: 1-2 students (per period) by mutual agreement and approval with the course director for all periods throughout academic year(course director reserves right to exclude occasional periods based on vacation times, etc.) Assessment: Direct feedback to student and completion of the standard on-line medical student evaluation instrument. Additional information: this course is an elective, it involves interprofessional interactions, there is no travel requirements, and no enrollment of visiting students. No Memorandum of Understanding is needed with the clinic (already exists) and no medical equipment. Prerequisites: Medical students must complete the Psychiatry MS3 rotation prior to this elective; No visiting students may be enrolled.