In brief
Medical students get little teaching about ADHD, even though it is a common condition. In this research letter we describe how four University of Sydney students were involved in a study of stimulant dose adjustment, testing thirteen children’s response inhibition on a computer task before and after each dose increase. Most children improved as they were given more medication. The students saw for themselves how the medication changed behaviour, how ADHD affects a whole family, and how hard community research is to run.
In more detail
Why the letter was written
ADHD affects around one child in twelve, yet medical students see little of it in their training. This letter to the Future Healthcare Journal describes what happened when four University of Sydney medical students took part in a community research project on ADHD, and argues that the experience taught them things a lecture cannot.
What the students did
The project studied how children respond as their stimulant dose is adjusted step by step. The students tested thirteen children on a computer task that measures response inhibition — the ability to hold back an impulsive response — before treatment and again after each increase in dose. Most of the children performed best after their third or fourth dose step, which is the practical point of careful dose adjustment: the right dose is found by watching the child, not by reading it off a chart.
What they learned
The students saw the change in a child’s behaviour on medication with their own eyes, met the families and saw how ADHD affects a whole household, and discovered how much work a community study takes — recruiting, scheduling, chasing appointments. The letter suggests that involving students in projects like this is a low-cost way to give the next generation of doctors a real understanding of ADHD.