Psychiatrists’ knowledge of novel psychoactive substances

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to measure the level of experience and knowledge of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) amongst psychiatrists, asking them to rank NPS against other psychoactive substances in terms of concern and the role they believe NPS play in the diagnosis and management of psychiatric disorders. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was created and emailed to all 217 psychiatrists working for a large city Mental Health Trust. Findings In total, 108 of 217 psychiatrists responded to the survey. A majority of the respondents believed that their level of knowledge of NPS was inadequate and stated that they would like to receive more training. Half of them either named only one or no NPS that they had encountered within the last five years. There was a correlation between the experience of the respondent and the number of NPS that they could name. Practical implications Most of the respondents assessed their own knowledge of NPS as either poor or basic. Psychiatrists’ knowledge of NPS could be improved by having regular NPS-related training, by being sent regular updates on NPS and by including lectures in the Membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists courses. Psychiatrists should also be encouraged to access online resources such as NEPTUNE and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Originality/value This is the first survey of the UK psychiatrists of their knowledge and experience of NPS.

Co-designing drug alerts for health and community workers for an emerging early warning system in Victoria, Australia

“…A key challenge for people working in AOD, health, and social work settings, however, is access to timely and reliable information about novel substances and emerging market trends [75][76][77][78][79]. For example, some health and community workers report feeling less confident responding to novel drug harms, particularly non-AOD specialists working in acute medical and mental health settings [78][79][80][81]. Alerts targeting these audiences may help to facilitate information exchange to improve workforce knowledge, confidence, and capacity for optimal planning, resource allocation, and provision of best practice care [17,49,77,82].…”

Exploring the Baseline Knowledge and Experience of Healthcare Professionals in the United Kingdom on Novel Psychoactive Substances

“…Previously, Schifano et al [53] stressed the need for HCPs to be continuously updated with regards to the constantly changing drug scenarios to identify new, emerging trends that can help with the provision of immediate interventions. Results (Figure 4) suggested improvements where self-reported levels of knowledge on NPS were mostly 'basic' (n = 76; 39.2%) and 'intermediate' (n = 73; 37.6%), which is in contrast to other studies that have reported inadequate HCP knowledge [40][41][42]. Nurses and pharmacists, predominantly working in hospitals and substance misuse services, had the most encounters with NPS use.…”

“…Wood et al [43] concluded that greater confidence was reported by both physicians and nurses on managing acute toxicity due to classical recreational drugs compared to NPS. Similarly, Owie et al [42] found that most psychiatrists had inadequate overall knowledge of NPS. Lastly, Gittins et al [39] utilised semi-structured interviews to gather detailed information from clients regarding their NPS use and concluded there is a need for further education and training for HCPs, who encounter NPS service users by adopting multi-agency and multi-disciplinary approaches to gauge awareness of changing trends in NPS use.…”

“…Previous studies have addressed the inadequacy in essential knowledge and skills required by HCPs on NPS to inform various interventions and highlighted the need for education on these novel molecules [38][39][40][41][42][43]. However, several studies only focused on specific professions and geographical locations in the UK [40][41][42][43]. The deficit in general knowledge on NPS may lead to inappropriate medical diagnoses and potentially the provision of inappropriate medical advice or interventions.…”

“…However, this must be treated with some caution given that purposive sampling was utilised, which comprised a small group of HCPs and therefore cannot be representative of the above-mentioned cohort of HCPs in the UK. Lack of knowledge about NPS can lead to misdiagnoses and under-recognition of potential physical and psychological repercussions of NPS use; stigma attached to seeking help for substance misuse may lead to non-engagement by NPS service users [42,54]. Hence, the topics for future educational sessions should be tailored according to the type of HCP and/or their role(s) as the context or their work area, as well as the type of clientele, may have an influence on the type of response/intervention that can be conducted by HCPs.…”