Addiction Medicine Fellowship - Overview: The project’s purpose is to expand specialty trained fellows working in undeserved, community-based and rural settings that integrate primary care with mental health disorder and substance use disorder prevention and treatment. Fellows will treat patients at various access points of care and provide addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery services across healthcare sectors. The goals include fostering robust community clinical training, developing a strong educational curriculum including social determinants of health, and educating the medical community on prevailing stigma. Objective 1) Increase the number of full-time fellows from 2 to 4, increasing the number of addiction medicine specialized physicians working in medically undeserved and rural populations in Tucson and Southern AZ. 2) Adapt and develop a diverse educational portfolio including in-depth training on social determinants of health, legal systems, and other barriers to recovery. 3) Increase awareness of addiction medicine as a sub-specialty and educate healthcare workers on prevailing stigma. 4) Expand the experiential clinical community-based rotations for fellows, residents, and medical students. -Clinical Priorities An in-person training track that includes a rotation, during which the resident or fellow practices at a teaching health center or in a community-based setting. -Funding Priority 3 AMF trains fellows at the Pascua Yaqui Tribe which is a mental health HPSA and federally-designated tribe and will expand to rural AZ. -Preference Significant Medically Undeserved Community Placement Rate Increase (50%) The Addiction Medicine Fellowship (AMF) is a collaboration among the Veteran’s Administration, Banner–University of Arizona and community sites. HRSA funds will help the AMF becoming self-sufficient, provide a well-rounded education, and increase the number of specialized trained physicians in Southern Arizona. We will achieve this goal by: • Develop a rural rotation in Kingman, AZ within the first 6 months and expand services through telemedicine by 50% over the next 5 years. • Increase recruitment by sponsoring educational activities and increasing outreach among University of Arizona post graduate training programs. • Develop Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Enhancement Therapy and Motivational Interviewing workshops for faculty, fellows, and staff in year one. • Sponsor medical students, residents, fellows, faculty to national addiction conferences to be able to increase knowledge, enhance experience and decrease stigma. • Over 5 years, collect data to evaluate progress and outcomes of the program.
