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Perceived role of psychiatrists in the management of substance misuse a questionnaire survey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Edward Day ,
Jon Arcelus  and
Ashraf Kahn
Edward Day*
Affiliation:
Adult Service, Psychotherapy, Devon House, Mindelson Way, Off Vincent Drive, Edgbaston, Birmingham B18 5SD
Jon Arcelus
Affiliation:
Oaklands Centre, Selly Oak, Birmingham
Ashraf Kahn
Affiliation:
Addictive Behaviours Centre, All Saints Hospital Birmingham
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

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Aims and methods

A postal questionnaire sent to all psychiatrists working in four NHS trusts in and around Birmingham was used to survey the number of new cases of drug and alcohol misuse identified in the previous month and the degree of postgraduate training in the management of such cases. Attitudes and beliefs about substance misuse problems were also elicited.

Results

A response rate of 70% was achieved across six sub-specialities in psychiatry and four levels of training. Of the 143 respondents, over half had identified at least one new case of alcohol (61%) or drug misuse (55%) in the previous month. Approximately half of the sample admitted to having received no training in management of substance misuse cases in the previous five years (45% alcohol 50% drugs). There was general agreement about the potential management role of the doctor in the field, but less consensus on whether the clinician had a responsibility to intervene in such cases. A clear discrepancy was demonstrated between psychiatrists' perceptions of the evidence supporting various treatments and the actual evidence base.

Clinical implications

The study highlights the pressing need for training psychiatrists at all levels and in all sub-specialities in the management of substance misuse.

Type
Original Papers
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 23 , Issue 11: The Journal of Trends in Psychiatric Practice , November 1999 , pp. 667 - 670
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 Royal College of Psychiatrists

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