on drug and alcohol abuse

Today I had my first day of introduction to the next 3 weeks in specialist psychiatry. I was handed this thick file of readings to do and information leaflets about the various organisations I'll be working with and seriously, I've never had a more organised schedule in medical school and even less so in clinics! A bit overwhelming to be honest.

Kat and I spent the morning discussing with one of our tutors what we expect from the ssc, we had to come up with our own personal learning objectives (in addition to the TEN learning objectives the school set out for us). Seriously, organised to the max. They will list like

learning objectives:

1)Learn to take a full drug and alcohol history etc.

How this will be done:

Through spending time in rehab homes, speaking to clients and sitting in on clinics.

How this will be assessed:

Through presentation and discussion of cases with Consultant/Registrar/SHO.

and they did that for all 10 learning objectives they set out for us. Like seriously, too organised.

Honestly, I've always wanted to work with substance abusers and am quite excited to start. So for the next 3 weeks, we have been posted to various voluntary rehab centres, some residential, some drop-in and some are proper NHS services where we are expected to spend full days in it to gain a better insight to substance abuse in the community. Oh, and to familiarise ourselves with drugs - what they are, what they look like, market prices and how to use them. Also, we discussed the whole epidemiological dimension to the topic, never realised the depth and breadth it actually covered and the many predisposing and confounding factors that may result in an individual having substance dependence. It is surprisingly interesting.

Also, we are expected to attend AA and NA meetings on some evenings. "Hi, I'm Wen. I've been sober for X years." haha And we've asked to follow one of our tutors for his prison visits and he said yes! The next 3 weeks look busy, but it is a good busy - very much what I need right now.

Tomorrow we're at City Road Crisis Intervention. We'll see how it goes. :)