Background: Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) has been established as an effective screening tool for providing interventions for patients with risky substance use.
Objectives: The objectives of this project were to train and coach staff nurses in the use of SBIRT, offer SBIRT to all admissions of a brief psychiatric inpatient unit, and decrease readmission rates.
Design: Using the Iowa Model for Implementing Evidence-Based Practices, SBIRT was implemented on the unit. Data were collected on the frequency of patients offered SBIRT and readmission rates.
Results: Fifty-nine percent of all admissions were offered SBIRT. The average readmission rates decreased by 18.3% for the first 2 months of implementation and by 67.5% for Days 16-31 postdischarge.
Conclusions: SBIRT is an effective tool for nurses on psychiatric units to address substance use and to decrease readmission rates.
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