What are the attitudes toward patients with substance use disorders (SUD) among medical students in the UK: a systematic review

BackgroundPatients accessing treatment for substance use disorders (SUD) are often met with negative attitudes from healthcare professionals. Identifying how future doctors perceive these patients is central to tackling stigmatized attitudes, which deter patients from utilizing services. This systematic review explores UK medical students' prevailing attitudes toward SUD patients.MethodsThis PROSPERO-registered review is guided by the PRISMA checklist. Database and citation searches identified 1688 papers for screening, of which seven met the inclusion criteria and were quality assessed, extracted and synthesized.ResultsWe found some students held negative attitudes, assigning SUD patients blame for their conditions and considering them more dangerous than other patients. Students also lacked confidence in addressing these patients' needs. They felt SUD teaching was low priority on their curricula, despite identifying doctors as responsible for overall SUD management. Progression through training appeared to correlate with improved attitudes within the included studies' limitations, and diverse methods such as expert patients further enhanced student perceptions and knowledge.ConclusionStigmatizing views of SUD patients remain present among UK medical students. Time and resources allocated to SUD education should better reflect the public health challenge it represents. Further work is needed to explore the effectiveness of stigma-reducing interventions.