Medical Training And Prescription Drug Use

As trained medical professionals there's an expectation that they would have knowledge of how to handle a variety of different medical situations. But when it comes to recognizing or identifying prescription drug diversion this is not the case. A report published a few years ago stated that only 19% of 979 physicians said they had not received any medical school training for this area. That's four in 10 doctors. Unfortunately doctors acknowledge that more training would be useful for them in this but currently no training being offered. The staff at Mark Houston Recovery is not comprised of doctors. But we deal with prescription drug addicts each and every day and can help them get back on the road to recovery  through useful, effective methods and a developed plan of action.

Prescription Drug Addiction -- Proper Training For  Doctors

According to a survey done by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) a few years ago 40 percent of doctors surveyed said they did not get any formal training on prescribing controlled substances while in medical school, and more than half said they had never been trained to identify prescription-drug abuse or addiction. Similar numbers of pharmacists said they had not received any training on identifying prescription-drug abuse or diversion since they left pharmacy school. That lack of training plus the availability of the prescription drug medication makes it clear to see how abuse can easily grow. Is there anything that can be done? Yes, more training and more awareness. What Mark Houston Recovery does is continue our efforts to help addicts take the right steps to recovery.

Training and Understanding For Prescription Drug Addiction

As medical professionals there should be a responsibility and an obligation to  understand both the medicine’s potential for abuse as well as the ways in which the symptoms of abuse might manifest themselves. Additional training for doctors could come from state-funded programs or the hospitals themselves.  The doctors themselves could also take the time to learn about what they're prescribing. Mark Houston Recovery's staff  have all been through some form of addiction and have survived recovery.  They know more than anyone what you're going through. Hopefully as doctors become more aware and educated about prescription medicine, this will be one element that can help combat the rising epidemic of prescription drug addiction.