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 clinical communication skills. After reading the factsheet, medical students will be able to:
- identify possible barriers to disclosure about substance use
- recognise effective ways of facilitating dialogue about substance use
- appreciate the importance of responding to patient cues and of using all appropriate opportunities to ask about possible substance use
- recognise the importance of effective communication when using screening tools for assessing substance use
- understand principles of motivational interviewing
