Addiction Medicine Fellowship - Program Type: Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program Brief overview: The purpose of this project is to increase the number of academically prepared and experientially trained addiction medicine physicians with special training in the provision of addiction treatment in rural settings. Measurable Objectives and How the Project will be Accomplished: We will recruit, train, and prepare addiction medicine fellows who will complete six months of their twelve month ACGME-accredited fellowship in addiction treatment and integrated primary care and community health settings across the state of Colorado, with special focus on reducing stigma and bias, establishing or increasing access to care in rural communities, and the development of expertise in how social determinants of health contribute to substance misuse. The Rural Track Addiction Fellows' rural rotations will be complemented by traditional rotations at the University of Colorado Hospital, Denver Health, Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, and the Department of Corrections. Their training will be enriched by practicing addiction medicine within highly functional interdisciplinary teams including nursing, counseling, psychology, psychiatry, peer recovery specialists, and social work. We will accomplish this by: 1) maintaining our strong record of recruiting trainees from diverse backgrounds, and 2) creating two rural track addiction fellow positions who will spend six of twelve months of training in rural Colorado (specifically, San Luis Valley), 3) continuing our program's participation in the American College of Academic Addiction Medicine (ACAAM) National Didactic Curriculum, approved by ACGME for quality and comprehensiveness. Fellows join these didactics weekly. Fellow will participate in program-specific and rigorous monthly journal club and monthly Complex Case Review. This didactic and experiential training curriculum will serve to support fellows' career development and commitment to long term work in high need/high demand areas. We will conduct faculty development that supports supervisory knowledge, best practices in adult learning theory and experiential teaching, and facilitates both fellow and faculty mental health and well-being. Eligibility for Funding Priority: Rural (Priority 3) Eligibility for Funding Preference: Qualification 2: Significant Increase Project Abstract: Addiction needs in rural communities outpace the workforce trained in substance use disorder treatment, and in provision of care sensitive to the unique needs of rural communities. Addiction Medicine fellowships are a critical component of workforce development. Most fellowship programs are located in urban areas. The University of Colorado Addiction Medicine Fellowship, an ACGME -accredited, program located in Aurora, Colorado, seeks to implement a dedicated Rural Addiction Medicine Fellowship track-the first in the nation. We will train two Rural Addiction Fellows per year in rural Colorado (San Luis Valley). The Rural Track Addiction Medicine fellows will be trained by Addiction Medicine specialists in integrated primary care settings, critical access hospitals, mobile health care units, the Department of Corrections, and Indian Health Services-in both urban, academic medical centers as well as rural communities. This combination of urban, academic training as well as embedded training in rural communities will ensure fellows are able to meet all ACGME Core Program Requirements, as well as enjoy comprehensive training experience. Training fellows in rural Colorado will increase access to treatment for those most affected by substance use morbidity and mortality.
