Substance misuse training among psychiatric doctors, psychiatric nurses, medical students and nursing students in a South London psychiatric teaching hospital

Background: Health professionals play an important role in the detection and subsequent management of individuals who misuse substances.

Aim: This article aimed to assess self-reported levels of training received by psychiatric doctors, nurses, medical students and nursing students in a South London psychiatric teaching hospital.

Method: Self-completion questionnaire assessing key aspects of training.

Findings: We found low overall levels of reported training in substance misuse. Of the reported training received, most was theoretical rather than clinical. The highest level of reported training was in alcohol misuse compared to illicit drug and tobacco misuse. High numbers of respondents reported feeling responsible for helping individuals with substance misuse difficulties but low numbers actually felt skilled to do so, indicating high levels of awareness without the requisite training.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that more resources should be focused on teaching psychiatric doctors, nurses, medical students and nursing students the key issues in substance misuse, and that this training should be clinically grounded, to alleviate the perceived low levels of reported clinical training in this study and the resulting lack of confidence.