Professional Standardized Patient Equity Curriculum Training in the Use of Substances (ProSPECTUS) Program - Expanding treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) is critical to help address the opioid overdose epidemic. While there have been positive developments in increasing access to buprenorphine and other medications for OUD (MOUD), the rising overdose death rates in Colorado signal a need for enhanced provider training. In response to this public health crisis, we aim to develop and pilot a standardized patient (SP) training program focusing on addiction. SPs are independent specialists trained to portray patient scenarios for the instruction and assessment of clinical skills of health professions trainees. The use of SPs facilitates learner practice in critical thinking, patient safety, crisis management, team interaction, decision making, and communication skills. SPs are a near-universal feature of health professions education and training. The goal is to equip SPs with the skills to effectively simulate patient encounters around substance use, and to provide effective feedback to the learner upon exercise completion. We aim to integrate the SP expertise into each degree curriculum at CU Anschutz through the Center for Advancing Professional Excellence (CAPE), where all the degree programs at CU Anschutz Medical Campus train clinically in controlled settings with SP encounters. The curriculum is designed to scale for packaging, distribution, marketing, and implementation at health professions education programs everywhere, free of charge, in the Open Educational Resources (OER) ecosystem. We intend to prioritize access to other SAMHSA PCSS-U grantees access to beta versions of the program. In addition to SP training, we aim to increase provision of evidence-based substance use disorder (SUD) management in a variety of settings for learners at CU Anschutz Medical Campus through didactic and experiential learning programs. We plan to build on the successful momentum of the Interprofessional Clinical Opioid Use Disorder (ICLOUD) Curriculum – funded by SAMHSA TI-082556 – which has trained over 150 MD, NP, and PA students using the 8-hour PCSS buprenorphine training curriculum. Our goal is to provide focused substance use disorder trainings in high yield graduate medical education programs based on their specialty, with an emphasis on management of adolescent substance use. We also plan to partner with the campus wide Interprofessional Addiction Medicine Student Interest Group to support their efforts in providing experiential learning opportunities for students on campus, including (but not limited to) field trips to county drug court, career panels in addiction medicine, and naloxone trainings. We aim to conduct surveys on knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors around caring for patients with SUD. This curriculum program will help ensure Colorado graduates are able, willing, and ready to provide care for patients with SUD, cementing the University of Colorado’s status as a leader in the field of SUD training.
