Medical schools across the country are expanding student training on how to identify and fight opioid abuse, according to ABCNews.
After federal health experts cited poor training as a cause of overprescription and a contributing factor to the opioid epidemic, schools decided to take action.
In April, more than 60 U.S. medical schools pledged to teach students new federal guidelines for prescribing opioid painkillers.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker (R.) united the state's four medical schools to develop a uniform curriculum on opioids and addiction, which they will implement this year. Pennsylvania lawmakers are pushing for similar efforts. Brown University in Providence, R.I., and Columbia University in New York are just two of dozens of schools that received federal grants to teach a standard interviewing method that helps screen patients for drug abuse.
Many schools are also introducing more training simulations that use a trained actor to stand in as a "standardized patient." Medical students must interact with the patient, screen for possible addiction and decide an appropriate treatment method.
Some schools, like Boston University in Massachusetts, teach students alternative methods to treat pain, including relaxation therapy and breathing exercises.
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