Opinions and experiences of Indiana pharmacists and student pharmacists: the need for addiction and substance abuse education in the United States.

BACKGROUND: Substance abuse and addiction are growing public health problems. Pharmacists are potentially in a position to be of great assistance in ameliorating these threats yet might not be receiving the education and training to do so effectively.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the relative perceived importance of substance abuse topics in pharmacy education among student pharmacists and pharmacy practitioners in the state of Indiana.
METHODS: Questionnaires were administered in class to students at Purdue University College of Pharmacy and via direct mail to the home addresses of randomly selected licensed Indiana pharmacists in 2009 to elicit information on the relevance and interest for particular topics within addiction education, prior education received regarding addiction, and the frequency of professional interactions that involved addiction.
RESULTS: Three hundred fifty students (74%) and 625 pharmacists (26%) responded to the survey. The average interest across all surveyed topics was 3.18/4.00 for students and 3.47/4.00 for practitioners. Areas rated highly by both groups included withdrawal, pain management, and recognition of signs and symptoms of addiction in patients. Qualitative responses from practitioners suggest strong interest in further education in this area and a perceived need for increased educational exposure during the student pharmacist experience. The average pharmacist respondent spent 6.94% of the time dealing with people who were addicted, and 22.2% had independent addiction education.
CONCLUSIONS: Pharmacists and pharmacy student respondents overwhelmingly felt that educational preparation in this area is important. A significant portion of time in practice is spent managing addiction-related issues, and further educational opportunities are being pursued beyond graduation to fulfill the educational needs of the practitioner respondents.