© 2024 Maine Public | Registered 501(c)(3) EIN: 22-3171529
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scroll down to see all available streams.

UNE Medical School to Require Opioid Prescriber Education

Following the Obama administration’s pledge to fight the nation’s opioid crisis, 61 US medical schools have announced that they will require their students to take some form of prescriber education.

Among them is the University of new England’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. UNE’s Vice-President Dr. Edward Bilsky has been studying opioids for more than 30 years.

Bilsky says that UNE is offering much more pain management and substance abuse education than the national average, “…and i think that’s reflective, one, of an osteopathic medical school that focuses on primary care medicine and a lot of the chronic pain issues and also mental health issues are seen, at first, by the primary care physician.”

Bilsky also says that there’s always room for improvement– it’s important that physicians know all of the tools that are available and all the potential risk factors.

UNE is presenting a community forum on the opioid crisis on it’s Biddeford campus next Friday evening as part of the school’s Brain, Body and Wellness Fair.

Ed is a Maine native who spent his early childhood in Livermore Falls before moving to Farmington. He graduated from Mount Blue High School in 1970 before going to the University of Maine at Orono where he received his BA in speech in 1974 with a broadcast concentration. It was during that time that he first became involved with public broadcasting. He served as an intern for what was then called MPBN TV and also did volunteer work for MPBN Radio.