Introduction
This interactive, avatar-based training, presented by Colorado Access and Denver Health's Center for Addiction Medicine (CAM) Academy, features four unique scenarios designed to support providers who encounter patients presenting to emergency care with behavioral health or substance use concerns.
Please read and review the CAM Avatar Series Instructions prior to starting the course. This will help you navigate the modules.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this training, emergency department (ED) providers (attending physicians, medical residents, interns, nurses, social workers, and psychology residents) will be able to:
- Identify and begin management of common behavioral health and/or substance use disorders affecting adolescents in the ED, including depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, self-harm, gender dysphoria, disordered eating, and addiction.
- Recognize how behavioral health, substance use, and social determinants of health can impact a patient’s medical concerns, their ability to access care, and/or their ability to follow-through with recommendations for treatment and follow-up.
- Apply evidence-based methods of assessment and management of behavioral health and substance use disorders.
- Utilize principles of harm reduction and trauma-informed care during patient interactions to reduce stigma and shame for patients with substance use disorders and co-occurring needs.
Instructions
In four interactive scenes, you will play the role of a provider in a pediatric ED and urgent care center. You’ll take a multiple-choice pre-test with questions about behavioral health and substance use topics, engage in four unique avatar patient simulations, complete a post-test and survey, and then receive a certificate of completion.
Acknowledgements
Content for this online training was created by Erin Soares, PhD, and Kalyn Holmes, PhD.
A heartfelt note of gratitude to Clint Carlson, MS, the Director of Education Technology Innovations in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado, Anschutz School of Medicine. Clint is the lead engineer and developer of the Social-Emotional Avatar Project, which aims to provide educational technology tools that connect educators and learners through emerging innovations. This project would not be possible without his expertise and dedication.