Family doctors should learn to treat addiction, not shun patients: scientist
VANCOUVER — Family doctors should be on the front lines of addiction treatment but many are unwilling to learn about substance use even as a national overdose crisis worsens, says the head of medical education at Canada’s largest mental health teaching hospital.
Dr. Peter Selby, in the addictions division of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, said stigma and discrimination prevent physicians from getting training to treat vulnerable patients who have become addicted to opioids such as heroin or those prescribed for pain relief.
“It comes from this core lack of understanding and training around helping people with addictions as a medical condition,” Selby said from Toronto. “It’s still seen as something bad that people do.”
Selby said it’s no longer acceptable for doctors to say they don’t know enough about addiction treatment, which he added should be integrated into primary care so patients can be screened and switched to medications, such as methadone and suboxone to reduce withdrawal symptoms.