School of Medicine and Health Sciences Poster Presentations

Document Type

Poster

Status

Medical Student

Abstract Category

Education/Health Services

Keywords

Education, cannabis, medical, marijuana, survey

Publication Date

Spring 5-1-2019

Abstract

Introduction: Professional education on medical cannabis lags behind growing public interest and increasing legal availability of medical and recreational cannabis; most US adults now have access to some form of legalized cannabis. The Cannabis as Medicine Interest Group (CANMIG) at GW SMHS believes that future physicians should be adequately prepared to handle patients’ questions about cannabis as it relates to their health and well-being. This study investigated the extent to which medical students wish to learn about medical cannabis and assessed their subjective preparedness to counsel patients on this topic.

Methods: One-hundred and five allopathic medical students completed an online survey on their learning about medical cannabis in medical school. All participants were medical students here at GW, which is located in a city that has legalized medical and recreational use of cannabis.

Conclusions: This survey clearly demonstrates the need to increase undergraduate medical education on medical cannabis, as it is overwhelmingly clear that the medical students at this school, regardless of class year, are not comfortable with their level of knowledge and would like to learn more while in medical school. Given the lopsided nature of these results despite DC’s legal "cannabis-friendly” location, the authors of this study think that it is reasonable to assume that most medical students across the country also feel similarly, although further work is needed to confirm this. Additionally, as legal medical and recreational cannabis likely becomes more accessible throughout the US, medical schools and medical education regulatory bodies should be strongly urged to adopt standards for cannabis education to ensure that future physicians can provide the best possible patient care.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Open Access

1

Comments

Presented at Research Days 2019.

Share

COinS
 

Survey of Medical Student Perceptions and Preparedness on the study of Medical Cannabis During Medical School

Introduction: Professional education on medical cannabis lags behind growing public interest and increasing legal availability of medical and recreational cannabis; most US adults now have access to some form of legalized cannabis. The Cannabis as Medicine Interest Group (CANMIG) at GW SMHS believes that future physicians should be adequately prepared to handle patients’ questions about cannabis as it relates to their health and well-being. This study investigated the extent to which medical students wish to learn about medical cannabis and assessed their subjective preparedness to counsel patients on this topic.

Methods: One-hundred and five allopathic medical students completed an online survey on their learning about medical cannabis in medical school. All participants were medical students here at GW, which is located in a city that has legalized medical and recreational use of cannabis.

Conclusions: This survey clearly demonstrates the need to increase undergraduate medical education on medical cannabis, as it is overwhelmingly clear that the medical students at this school, regardless of class year, are not comfortable with their level of knowledge and would like to learn more while in medical school. Given the lopsided nature of these results despite DC’s legal "cannabis-friendly” location, the authors of this study think that it is reasonable to assume that most medical students across the country also feel similarly, although further work is needed to confirm this. Additionally, as legal medical and recreational cannabis likely becomes more accessible throughout the US, medical schools and medical education regulatory bodies should be strongly urged to adopt standards for cannabis education to ensure that future physicians can provide the best possible patient care.

 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.