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Introduction: Many health care providers would benefit from greater knowledge and awareness of medical cannabis, even if they choose not to integrate it into their medical practice. Unfortunately, health care providers generally report low knowledge of medical cannabis and cite this lack of knowledge as a barrier to making patient recommendations. It is important to understand health care providers' medical cannabis knowledge and its correlates. However, few studies have rigorously assessed clinically relevant cannabis-related knowledge, instead typically focusing on attitudes toward cannabis and perceived knowledge. Methods: Physicians in a university-affiliated health system completed an anonymous online survey. The survey assessed participants' basic demographics and medical experience, experiences with cannabis education, beliefs about their knowledge of and competency regarding medical cannabis, and knowledge of medical cannabis in relation to the current scientific evidence. Results: The average level of medical cannabis knowledge was 58% correct, with scores ranging from 39% to 78% correct. Perceived cannabis knowledge predicted actual knowledge, and those who pursued self-initiated study or attended a lecture on medical cannabis had higher knowledge levels. Conclusion: Levels of factual knowledge about medical cannabis among physicians were moderate. Our results highlight the mismatch between physician knowledge and cannabis policy. We offer our brief, 10-min assessment as a baseline for characterizing cannabis knowledge, acknowledging that the content and interpretation may change as knowledge advances.

There are currently 3.5 million Americans of Arab descent and 3.45 million Muslims living in the United States. These rapidly growing populations face significant health disparities, which is likely in part due to the lack of culturally competent physicians trained to treat these populations. While the Institute of Medicine calls for cross-cultural training for all providers, it is not clear if this need is being met. The purpose of this study is to examine medical trainees' current level of cultural training and whether this corresponds to confidence in caring for Arab and Muslim patients.The authors created an anonymous survey that was distributed via email to medical students and residents at Michigan Medicine between January and March 2020. Questions included trainees' comfort and confidence level in caring for Arab and Muslim patients, as well education received on this topic.Results showed that 41% of respondents were confident in their ability to take a history from an Arab patient immigrated to the U.S. Additionally, 55% of non-Muslim participants reported that they felt comfortable in caring for fasting patients, while only 24% felt confident in their ability to answer patient questions about fasting. Approximately half of respondents felt confident in their ability to examine an Arabic-speaking woman (47%) or woman wearing a hijab (49%). The majority of respondents had not received any training or education in the care of Arab patients (64%) or fasting patients (81%).Medical trainees at one large academic medical center in the state with the second largest Arab-American population, and one of the largest populations of Muslim-Americans lack comfort and confidence in providing culturally competent care for Arab and Muslim patients. Education of trainees about Arab and Muslim health should be implemented into the curriculum to optimize care delivered to this patient population.