| Summary: | <p> Opportunity exists to improve care provided to patients with risky alcohol use, including the implementation of screening and brief intervention by healthcare professionals. This quality improvement project aimed to first examine the effect of an addiction education program on the nurse’s perceptions of caring for patients who drink alcohol. The second goal was to explore outcomes of the implementation of the AUDIT-C screening tool for patients entering this facility. Participants completed the Alcohol and Alcohol Problems Perception Questionnaire (AAPPQ) before and after a one-hour educational session led by an addiction specialist. The education was found to significantly influence nurses’ perceptions towards caring for patients who drink alcohol (p < 0.0001). Next, the AUDIT-C was implemented on two pilot units for all admitted patients over a one-month period. Of 151 patients screened using this validated tool, 19 screened positive for risky drinking (12.6%). Of particular clinical importance is that current practice at this facility does not include screening patients admitted to observation status for alcohol use; however, 13% of observation patients screened positive during the pilot, demonstrating consistency across the hospital population regardless of admission status. Thus, the evidence of this project is consistent with the literature in that education is effective in changing perceptions of healthcare providers towards working with patients who drink alcohol, and that the AUDIT-C screening tool is useful for improving practice related to the assessment of patients who drink alcohol.</p><p>
|
|---|
