St George’s Medical School (University of London) and the SSA produced a user-friendly set of factsheets to help integrate knowledge of substance use into the undergraduate medical curriculum. This factsheet examines substance use among psychiatry patients. After reading the factsheet, medical students will recognise that:
- co-occurring mental health and substance problems are very common in the healthcare setting; where one is present, the other often co-exists
- knowledge about screening and assessment for these complex disorders is a core part of undergraduate training
- there are serious social, psychological, and physical causes and complications resulting from combined mental health and substance use problems
- working and training with other professional groups in the NHS and non-statutory agencies is necessary to provide continuity of care as these conditions are often long-term
- interventions can be effective
