Posted on: 6 May 2021
More than 50 general psychiatrists and narcologists* from the Republic of Georgia have recently completed NEPTUNE training on the clinical management of club drugs and novel psychoactive substance.
The NEPTUNE clinical guidance and training were developed by Professor Owen Bowden-Jones and Dr Dima Abdulrahim from CNWL Addictions. As these are recognised as the most authoritative in the field, a dissemination programme across parts of Europe is taking place, funded by EU-Action Against Drugs and Organised Crime (EU-ACT) and led jointly with the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and the NEPTUNE team.
In addition to the funding of a new 2021 edition of the NEPTUNE clinical guidance by EU-ACT, (2015 edition funded by Health Foundation), the European organisations have translated a 100-page clinical summary into Georgian, Moldovan, Russian and Ukrainian.
A ‘training the trainers’ programme was also delivered by Owen and Dima to doctors from Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine. This aimed to skill them up as ‘Neptune Champions’, in order for them to cascade the learning to a wide number of clinicians across their countries.
As part of this wider dissemination, the first national training events took place in Georgia in April and May 2021. Training was introduced by the NEPTUNE team, but delivered in Georgian by the ‘NEPTUNE Champions’. Two, three-day training events were attended by over 50 doctors across the country and supported by National Drug Observatory Georgia and the Georgian Centre of Mental Health and Prevention of Addiction. Certificates were issues to participants for the successful completion of the NEPTUNE training.
Training for the second lot of clinicians will be completed tomorrow at 3pm UK time.
To access the NEPTUNE guidance, including e-learning go to: http://neptune-clinical-guidance.co.uk/
*A narcologist is a term widely used in Russia, former Soviet areas and Eastern Europe for psychiatrists who deal with the prevention, treatment, diagnosis, social care and recovery of people who have become addicted to drugs or alcohol. Narcologists are practitioner of narcology.