Delegates Program - Alberta Centre for Injury Control & Research

BRIEF Interventions:
Developing a frontline approach to increase admitted trauma patients’ awareness of risky
drinking or drug use and explore options to change behaviour.
Speaker:
Christine Vis, BSN, RN, Manager
Trauma Services and Unit 44 Trauma/Surgery
Foothills Medical Centre
Alberta Health Services
What was the actual and/or potential alcohol-related injury issue(s) you identified in your
community?
Statistics show that approximately 50% of all trauma patients admitted to Trauma Centers
have positive blood alcohol levels (BAL). Most of the alcohol-related injuries do not
involve alcohol dependant people but moderate or at-risk drinkers who may not know
how much they can safely drink
As an accredited Level 1 trauma centre and an inpatient trauma unit, front line workers
care for patients who have had alcohol-related injury. In 2011-2012, of the 565 admitted
patients tested for blood alcohol, 32.4% tested positive (above 0.08% blood alcohol
concentration)
What did you do to address the identified issue(s)?
The Trauma Association of Canada Accreditation guidelines recommend that Level I and
II Trauma Centres should screen for problem drinking and substance abuse and offer a
brief intervention. The guidelines also recommend that appropriate interventions be
available to minimize recidivistic high-risk behavior
Through the Patient Care Information System (SCM), blood alcohol screening and urine
drug screening has become a part of the trauma admission panel. Screening on admission
to the unit will also take place
A front line approach is being developed where nurses will deliver BRIEF Interventions
to patients. A team of nurses and allied health professionals who work on the unit have
volunteered to receive training and deliver the BRIEF Intervention to patients. Additional
referral and follow-up will be offered to patients upon request
Material for patient and family information has been developed
Tracking intervention numbers and measuring patients’ perceptions of the BRIEF
Interventions are also part of the initial phase of the project
What outcomes did you observe?
This project is currently in the initiation phase of policy and program development.
Implementation is just occurring
Future plans for screening through site specific trauma registry indicators are in the
works so public reporting of our intervention strategy and its impact will be done
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