Multispecialty screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) training in an academic medical center: Resident training experience across specialties

ABSTRACT

Background: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has recently begun to fund programs that train medical residents on how to utilize an evidence-based validated system known as screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) for providing early detection and brief treatment of unhealthy substance use. This paper investigates training outcomes of multispecialty SBIRT training at one such program at Albany Medical Center (AMC), one of the initial SAMHSA grantees. Methods: Training outcomes were measured across 3 domains of learning: trainee satisfaction, acquired knowledge, and perceived usefulness. The authors explored differences in learning experience by postgraduate year and by specialty. Results: Overall, residents were highly satisfied with the training, and learning outcomes met objectives. Residents' ratings of usefulness did not vary by program year. However, the results indicate that relative to residents in other programs, residents in psychiatry and pediatrics found the training components significantly more useful, whereas emergency medicine residents found training components to have less utility. Residents who found the training relevant to their daily work were more satisfied and more receptive to SBIRT training overall, which may help explain difference scores by program. Conclusions: Residents were highly satisfied with SBIRT skills training, although ratings of usefulness varied by residency program. Specialization by program and on-site modeling by senior faculty may enhance trainee satisfaction and perceived usefulness.

KEYWORDS:

• Brief intervention
• residents
• SBIRT training
• substance use disorders

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the many colleagues, collaborators, and students (residents) who have helped to make this program both possible and successful. Special thanks as well to Allison Wymer and Sandy Fitch for their countless hours of administrative and supportive work on the program.

Author contributions

A.J.C. was involved in research conception and design, training, data analysis, interpretation of results, writing, and editing. V.I.B. was involved in research conception and design, training design, training, writing, and editing. M.L. was involved in research conception and design, training, data analysis, interpretation of results, and writing. B.M.S. was involved in research conception and design, training design, training, writing, and editing. N.B. was involved in research conception, training, data analysis, and interpretation of results. I.M.M. was involved in research design, training design, and data collection. C.J.H. was involved in research conception and design, training, and data analysis. M.R.L. was involved in research conception and design, manuscript editing, and training. J.P. was involved in research conception and design and training. S.H. was involved in research conception and training. P.P. was involved in training design, training, and research conception and design. A.A. was involved in training design, training, and research conception and design. S.D.G. was involved in training design, research design and conception, and writing.

Funding

Preparation of this report and the program described herein were supported by SAMHSA grant 1U79TI02069. SAMHSA provided funding for the development of training and the evaluation of training effectiveness. SAMHSA was not directly involved in the design of the training program, study design, or in manuscript preparation.