Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #116399

Jennifer Smith, MD, Michael Clay, MD, and Valerie Burgest. Division of General Medicine & Primary Care, Stroger Hospital of Cook County & Rush Medical College, 1900 W. Polk St., Room 943, Chicago, IL 60612, (312)864-4435, Jennifer_Smith@rsh.net

Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers in general health care settings see the need to prevent illness, injury, and death from the misuse of alcohol and other drugs. Yet significant barriers have minimized their role in addressing this major public health issue including: stigma, poor training, absent incentives, and lack of systematic supports. With Federal funding we have introduced screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment for alcohol and drug misuse into 3 hospitals and 2 health centers of the Cook County Bureau of Health Services. In the first 10 months of clinical services we helped doctors and nurses provide better medical care to 17,500 patients by asking those patients about their use of alcohol and other drugs. Among them, we provided brief advice and support for healthy changes to 3,500 patients who were assessed at risk for illness or injury due to alcohol or other drug use. We also arranged for substance abuse treatment care for an additional 1,300 patients with serious substance use disorders. This presentation will describe our implementation model and strategies, successes and challenges.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this section, participants should be able to
• Describe a successful model for implementing screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment for substance use disorders (SBIRT) into a general hospital or health center setting.
• Identify practical concerns in implementing SBIRT into a general health care setting.
• Identify critical strategies for implementation of a new, integrated, clinical service into a large, public health system.

Keywords: Alcohol, Drugs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation