UW Department of Family Medicine to Offer Fellowship in Addictive Medicine

MADISON—The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health will be one of the first medical schools in the country to offer an accredited fellowship for physicians who want training on how to treat patients with substance- abuse disorders.

Accreditation was recently granted by the American Board of Addiction Medicine Foundation for the program, which will have primary clinical training sites at UW Hospital’s Center for Addictive Disorders and the Veterans Hospital.

Dr. Randall Brown, assistant professor of family medicine, will serve as the program director.  He says nearly one in five U.S. residents has a substance-abuse problem at some point during their lifetime, but only 10 percent receive needed treatment.

“One of the reasons for this is that many physicians and other providers are not comfortable discussing substance use, assessing patients for problems, and directing or coordinating appropriate treatment,” he says.  “This program will provide doctors with training in substance-use disorders, so they can figure out when patients are struggling with substance use and get them the treatment they need.” 

The program will offer instruction and clinical experience in how to assess unhealthy substance use, prescribe appropriate medication therapy, lead recovery groups, treat patients going through withdrawal, and conduct research in the field of addiction medicine. 

Brown says in most cases, participants in the program will have already served a three-year residency in family medicine or internal medicine. They would have the option of serving fellowships for one or two years in addiction medicine. 

“A one-year fellowship would be purely clinical training that would qualify them to hold a position such as staff physician at a treatment program or to take their knowledge and skills into a primary-care setting or hospital consultation service,” he says.  “A two-year fellowship may include research in addiction medicine or development of a special area of clinical interest, such as addiction during pregnancy or treatment programs targeting addiction to opiates.”

Brown says the program will have great importance when the federal health-care reform law goes into effect, because it will provide coverage to 30 million formerly uninsured Americans, a group currently at high risk to struggle with substance-use problems.

“Insurance coverage will allow more people to get the help they need,” he says.  ”Unhealthy substance use is a common problem, and appropriate interventions need to be more effectively integrated into medical education and medical practice.  This is definitely a step in the right direction.”