Measuring first and fourth year medical student attitudes toward patients with alcohol and other drug use disorders

Screening and brief intervention (SBI) are well established in the medical literature as effective strategies to detect and intervene with patients who present with alcohol and other drug use (AOD) disorders. However, research on implementation of SBI has revealed that physicians are reluctant to employ this tool, citing several barriers. Among these barriers are negative attitudes toward patients with AOD disorders. These negative attitudes have also been found in medical students. The aim of this study was to assess the association between medical students’ year in medical training, expected specialty and personal experience with substance use and attitudes towards patients with AOD disorders.