Sunday, September 12, 2010

Lack of training for Canadian doctors contributing to narcotics crisis: report

From the Toronto Star:
Canadian doctors are woefully undertrained in pain management and addiction, a shortfall that is contributing to Ontario’s prescription narcotics crisis, says the body that regulates the province’s doctors.

Medical schools in this country devote a meagre 16 hours on average to proper pain education, half of the training nurses receive and less than one fifth the time that veterinary schools devote to the subject.

In a sweeping set of recommendations aimed at stemming epidemic abuse of narcotics like OxyContin, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is urging beefed-up academic training in pain relief and addiction.

“Pain management training in its present format in undergraduate education, particularly for physicians, is insufficient,” said Dr. Stephen Wetmore, who headed the report’s education working group.

“Physicians receive less pain management training than virtually any other health care provider,” he said. ...more

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