The American College of Medical Toxicology Receives a $500,000 Grant to Expand Substance Use Disorder Curriculum

PHOENIX, Oct. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agency, recently announced that ACMT has been awarded a $500,000 2-year grant titled "Frontline: Training Emergency Medicine Residents and Medical Toxicology Fellows to Effectively Screen, Assess, and Treat Patients with Substance Use Disorder".

To expand the number of practitioners able to deliver high-quality, evidence-based substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, SUD education must be integrated into the standard curriculum of relevant healthcare and health services education programs.

The purpose of this grant program is to develop a high-quality, comprehensive curriculum to identify and treat patients with SUD. The curriculum will include screening, assessment and treatment principles and their application, particularly regarding alcohol, marijuana, stimulants, and opioids.

With the SAMHSA funding, ACMT will pilot this curriculum in the first year at the following eleven emergency medicine residency programs, each with an ACMT site lead: Emory University School of Medicine, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Spectrum Health/Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical School and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. In year two, ACMT will add ten additional emergency medicine residencies to this program.

Dr. Paul M. Wax, ACMT Executive Director and Principal Investigator for this program adds, "We are extremely proud to have received this funding to expand substance use disorder curriculum at emergency medicine residencies nationwide. Recognition from SAMHSA is an important step to increasing the visibility of medical toxicology".

The American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT) is a professional, nonprofit association of physicians with recognized expertise and board certification in medical toxicology. Our members specialize in the prevention, evaluation, treatment, and monitoring of injury and illness from exposures to drugs and chemicals, as well as biological and radiological agents. ACMT members work in clinical, academic, governmental, and public health settings, and provide poison control center leadership.

SOURCE American College of Medical Toxicology