Medical education for alcohol and other drug abuse in the United States.

Initiatives by individuals, private foundations and government have led to improvements in the United States in medical education dealing with alcohol and drug-related problems. Progress has been made, particularly in the past 5 years, in developing new medical school curricula and in faculty development. Greater activity by national professional organizations has helped raise the priority of training in alcohol- and drug-related areas for undergraduate and postgraduate medical education. As an example, Project ADEPT (Alcohol and Drug Education for Physician Training in primary care) at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, is described. The importance of positive and motivated faculty role models and of skills training is emphasized.