GEP Medicine in Society Handbook 2019/20

3.6. Addiction

Aims

To introduce students to a range of addictions and addicts and how problems of addiction are dealt with by the primary healthcare team and by voluntary and community agencies.

Preparatory work

Before arriving at the placement please look at the NHS Choices website pages on Addiction it has information on different addictions, treatment options, patient stories etc.

The Action on Addiction website has information for patients and health professionals and also logs any news items on addiction so you can get a feel for how addiction stories are covered in the media.

Learning objectives

By the end of the day students should be able to

• Identify the addictions commonly encountered within the practice
• Describe the range of services, people and agencies involved in the care of people with addictions in the local area
• Discuss smoking cessation strategies in place locally
• Identify and describe some of the health promotion models used in treating people with addiction
• Discuss the impact of addictions on the health of the practice population and on public health

Suggested Activities

• Tutorial on impact of smoking, drug and alcohol misuse on GP workload, including. importance of health beliefs and behaviour change models in treatment of addiction.
• Visit to a local agency providing support for people with addiction problems locally.
• Review of services and health promotion material available within the practice for people with addictions.
• Debriefing Tutorial