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Substance use disorder education report - A glance at the current educational needs of pharmacy students

26.06.2020


Substance use disorder education report - A glance at the current educational needs of pharmacy students

1Karen Abboud, 1Rosary Pang, 1Ana-Katharina Gehrke, 1Luka Tomasic, 1Kenny Sidharta, 1Fatma Mohamed, 1Daniel Semmy

1Pharmacy Education Committees, International Pharmaceutical Students' Federation ([email protected])

Abstract

Substance use disorders (SUD) constitute a cluster of substance-related psychological and behavioural disorders that have been increasingly shown to contribute to the global burden of disease. It has been demonstrated that patients rarely receive adequate treatment. Pharmacists, touted as the most accessible healthcare professionals, can identify affected individuals in the community and facilitate access to optimal treatment. We conducted an international cross-sectional study to assess pharmacy students’ perspectives regarding the extent of the current pharmacy curricula in preparing students to tackle substance use disorders in their professional practices. After 279 responses from over 31 countries were collected, we concluded that more emphasis should be placed on this seminal topic in terms of hours, topics covered, and experiential opportunities provided to develop more confident pharmacists capable of addressing this global health concern.

Keywords: substance use disorders (SUD), education

 

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