Knowledge and perceived ability to deal with physical comorbidities in substance use disorders: Does participation in continuing medical education help?

oleh: Nidhi Sharma, Abhishek Ghosh, Renjith R Pillai, B N Subodh, Debasish Basu, Surender Kumar Mattoo, Aniruddha Basu, Raghav Shah, Fazle Roub

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2021-01-01

Deskripsi

Background: Despite the magnitude and impact of co-occurring physical and substance use disorders (SUDs) and evidence of effectiveness of integrated care, the training for management of comorbidities has been neglected. Our objective was to examine the effectiveness of 1-day continuing medical education (CME) in this area on participants' perceived and objective knowledge and skills. Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study of CMEs conducted in a tertiary care center with a pre-post assessment design. Assessment included rating perceived knowledge and skill on a five-point scale and objective multiple-choice questions. Subjective feedback on qualitative aspects of the CME was taken. Out of total 154 participants, 69 completed pre-post assignments that included interactive lectures through multimodal presentations and problem-based learning. Pre-post comparisons were done by paired t-test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results: Pre-CME assessment showed low mean scores (4.04 [1.75]) in objective (assessment to be added) and limited perceived knowledge and ability. However, objective knowledge assessment showed a significant improvement (P < 0.001) after the CME. Perceived knowledge and skills showed a significant positive (P < 0.001, all comparisons) change in all the four (CME-1) and seven (CME-2) domains assessed. CME was perceived to be excellent in terms of the practical value of material (60.3%), able to meet its stated objectives (60.3%), quality of instructions (58.8%), and organization of material (60.3%). Conclusion: CME is a viable option for training of psychiatrists to address the unmet need for treating co-occurring physical and SUDs. Future studies with experimental designs should determine the effectiveness of the components of CMEs.