Alignment Between Resident Medical Condition Regard Scale Scores and Desire to Treat Patients With Opioid Use Disorder

Objectives To (1) evaluate attitudes of resident physicians towards patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) and (2) identify characteristics associated with residents' desire to treat patients with OUD. Methods We administered the validated medical condition regard scale (MCRS), a question regarding desire to treat patients with OUD, and a demographic questionnaire to residents in multiple specialties at the University of New Mexico (family medicine, psychiatry, emergency medicine, internal medicine, anesthesiology, general surgery, obstetrics/gynecology). Results One hundred sixty-three of 307 residents (53%) responded to the survey; 146 provided complete responses to the "desire" and MCRS questions. Response rates, MCRS, and desire to care for patients with OUD varied between specialties (P < 0.001); family medicine had highest MCRS and desire to care scores; surgery, anesthesiology had low scores. MCRS and resident "desire" scores were highly correlated on univariate analysis (r = 0.73, P < 0.001); resident demographics were not. On logistic regression, resident desire to care for OUD increased with MCRS scores (P < 0.001). The predicated probability of desire to care for OUD was >= 80% with MCRS >57; MCRS classification skill on receiver operator curve analysis was excellent (area under curve = 0.81 [95% confidence interval 0.74, 0.88], and specialty-adjusted MCRS area under curve = 0.85 [95% confidence interval 0.79, 0.91]). Conclusions High resident regard for patients with OUD on MCRS was directly related to resident's desire to provide OUD care. MCRS may offer a tool to alter or individualize OUD education, potentially influencing the OUD workforce of the future.