Medical students seek better training on safe prescribing and addiction treatment

Harvard Medical School students are adding their voices to those of critics who say that medical schools aren't doing enough to prepare doctors to help stop the country's deadly opioid crisis, according to a report on STAT.

Unsatisfied with the medical school's curriculum, the Harvard medical students have organized their own training sessions on how to treat opioid addiction, according to the report. The students organized an eight-hour training on how to use buprenorphine to treat addiction and launched a campaign to raise awareness about how to buy and use naloxone, which can reverse an opioid overdose.

Despite more than 10 years of the growing epidemic, there has not been any large change in the way physicians prescribe opioid painkillers, Michael Botticelli, head of the While House Office of National Drug Control Policy, told the publication. That is in part, because "there is little to no education within medical education curriculums around addiction and safe prescribing," he said.

In response, Harvard and other medical schools say they are teaching safe prescribing methods and enhancing their curriculums to educate future doctors. However, some students say their medical schools can do better. Students from Massachusetts' four medical schools have formed a Student Coalition on Addiction, which is working to identify gaps in education and recommend improvement, the report said.

Physician training has been a controversial topic. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering a proposal to require safety training courses for all doctors who prescribe opioids, but physician groups continue to voice opposition to mandatory educations, as FiercePraticeManagement previously reported.

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