Creating change agents: a national substance abuse education project.
OBJECTIVE
This study evaluated the effects of a national interdisciplinary faculty development program, Project MAINSTREAM, on creating curriculum enhancement in health professional education.


METHODS
Thirty-nine faculty completed a two-year, part-time fellowship program featuring interdisciplinary collaboration, mentoring, training meetings, and Internet-based instructional materials. The main vehicle for curricular change was a required collaborative education project to develop trainees' core competencies in substance abuse prevention services.


RESULTS
Fellows used a variety of approaches to implement 123 curricula and provide 66,995 hours of training to 10,170 trainees. Ninety percent of the training hours occurred in required courses, a potential indication of sustainability. Fellows indicated that a majority of the offerings would be sustained beyond the fellowship.


CONCLUSIONS
Project MAINSTREAM shows promise as a model for achieving durable curriculum change in response to the public health crisis associated with a workforce untrained to deliver substance abuse services.
Marcus
Marianne T
MT
Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse, Providence, RI 02908, USA.
Brown
Richard L
RL
Straussner
S Lala A
SL
Schoener
Eugene
E
Henry
Rebecca
R
Graham
Antonnette V
AV
Madden
Theresa
T
Saunders
Laura A
LA
D002983:Clinical Competence; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003479:Curriculum; D004493:Education; D004501:Education, Medical; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D005257:Fellowships and Scholarships; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008611:Mentors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D014481:United States