Addiction Medicine

This program will provide exposure to a full spectrum of care, developing the resident’s clinical knowledge, evidence-based skills and attitudes for comprehensive care in Addiction Medicine, and leadership in the field within the community. This training program will introduce residents to the breadth of addictions medicine, from harm reduction to inpatient recovery treatment, and from community providers to hospital-based services. A unique strength of this training program is the opportunity to gain experience treating the concurrent psychiatric disorders that so often accompany substance use disorders. Substantial experiences in all the above areas will allow residents to develop knowledge and skill in managing substance use disorders and common comorbid conditions in community and hospital-based settings.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Time available: 12-month program

Learning experiences available:

Medical Detox (inpatient)
Hospital Consult Service (inpatient)
Residential Treatment, including Concurrent Mood/Anxiety/Trauma Disorders (inpatient)
Opiate Agonist Clinic (outpatient)
Rapid Access Addiction Medicine Clinic (outpatient)
Harm Reduction and Safer Supply Clinic (outpatient)
Elective with relevance for addictions medicine, e.g., pain medicine, infectious disease, public health, psychiatry, psychotherapy, hepatology, perinatal addiction medicine, pediatric/youth addiction medicine
Scholarship/advocacy/policy block

Mandatory longitudinal primary care experience (one half day a week): A mandatory primary care experience with a primary Family Medicine preceptor is expected during a second protected half-day. This experience will be for 12 months during the PGY3 program. Because an overarching goal of the program is to develop family physicians that have additional expertise in addiction medicine, this continuity experience is mandated to maintain the PGY3 resident’s competency and skills in the other areas of general family medicine during this training year.

SAMPLE SCHEDULE

The clinical rotations will be scheduled into 13 four-week blocks.

Learning experience	Number of blocks
Medical Detox	1
Hospital Consult Service	2
Opiate Agonist Clinic	1
RAAM Clinic	2
Harm Reduction & Safer Supply	1
Residential Treatment, including Concurrent Mood/Anxiety/Trauma Disorders	2
Perinatal Addictions	1
Selective(s)	1-2
Scholarship/advocacy/policy	1

CONTACT US

Program Director: Dr. Joél Schmidt

For further program details please contact: Brooke Luke, lukeb1@mcmaster.ca