Peer Workers: The life of the opioid crisis
The need for a robust workforce that can effectively work with individuals living with substance use disorder has never been greater than it is today. Across the United States, billions of dollars are allocated to addressing substance use disorders; however, one of the major barriers is — who will do the work? I focus much of my attention on the peer specialist and the role they play in the addiction recovery space. My colleague Dr. Fred Rottnek, professor and the program director of the new Addiction Medicine Fellowship at Saint Louis University (SLU), is also sounding the alarm for the development of physicians, nurses, and other professionals who can answer the call. In this article, I will discuss some challenges to professional development and highlight examples of how SLU is forming collaborations to promote training and professionalism among health care workers.
Addiction Medicine requires specialization due to many complexities of daily care. Under the newly created Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), the addiction medicine subspecialty focuses on the prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, and recovery of unhealthy substance use, substance use disorders (SUDs)…
