Attitudes and current practice in alcohol screening, brief intervention, and referral for treatment among staff working in urgent and emergency settings: An open, cross-sectional international survey.
<h4>Background</h4>The aim of the study was to ascertain the views and experiences of those working in urgent and emergency care (UEC) settings towards screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) for alcohol, to inform future practice.<h4>Objectives</h4>T...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2023-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291573 |
| _version_ | 1827800263845478400 |
|---|---|
| author | Holly Blake Mehmet Yildirim Vinishaa Premakumar Lucy Morris Philip Miller Frank Coffey |
| author_facet | Holly Blake Mehmet Yildirim Vinishaa Premakumar Lucy Morris Philip Miller Frank Coffey |
| author_sort | Holly Blake |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <h4>Background</h4>The aim of the study was to ascertain the views and experiences of those working in urgent and emergency care (UEC) settings towards screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) for alcohol, to inform future practice.<h4>Objectives</h4>To explore i) views towards health promotion, ii) views towards and practice of SBIRT, iii) facilitators and barriers to delivering SBIRT, iv) training needs to support future SBIRT practice, and v) comparisons in views and attitudes between demographic characteristics, geographical regions, setting and occupational groups.<h4>Methods</h4>This was an open cross-sectional international survey, using an online self-administered questionnaire with closed and open-ended responses. Participants were ≥18 years of age, from any occupational group, working in urgent and emergency care (UEC) settings in any country or region.<h4>Results</h4>There were 362 respondents (aged 21-65 years, 87.8% shift workers) from 7 occupational groups including physicians (48.6%), nurses (22.4%) and advanced clinical practitioners (18.5%). Most believed that health promotion is part of their role, and that SBIRT for alcohol prevention is needed and appropriate in UEC settings. SBIRT was seen to be acceptable to patients. 66% currently provide brief alcohol advice, but fewer screen for alcohol problems or make alcohol-related referrals. The most common barriers were high workload and lack of funding for prevention, lack of knowledge and training on SBIRT, lack of access to high-quality resources, lack of timely referral pathways, and concerns about patient resistance to advice. Some views and attitudes varied according to demographic characteristics, occupation, setting or region.<h4>Conclusions</h4>UEC workers are willing to engage in SBIRT for alcohol prevention but there are challenges to implementation in UEC environments and concerns about workload impacts on already-burdened staff, particularly in the context of global workforce shortages. UEC workers advocate for clear guidelines and policies, increased staff capacity and/or dedicated health promotion teams onsite, SBIRT education/training/resources, appropriate physical spaces for SBIRT conversations and improved alcohol referral pathways to better funded services. Implementation of SBIRT could contribute to improving population health and reducing service demand, but it requires significant and sustained commitment of time and resources for prevention across healthcare organisations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T20:04:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ca085835c1414005abc332c501fa42bc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T20:04:50Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-ca085835c1414005abc332c501fa42bc2023-10-04T05:31:27ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-01189e029157310.1371/journal.pone.0291573Attitudes and current practice in alcohol screening, brief intervention, and referral for treatment among staff working in urgent and emergency settings: An open, cross-sectional international survey.Holly BlakeMehmet YildirimVinishaa PremakumarLucy MorrisPhilip MillerFrank Coffey<h4>Background</h4>The aim of the study was to ascertain the views and experiences of those working in urgent and emergency care (UEC) settings towards screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) for alcohol, to inform future practice.<h4>Objectives</h4>To explore i) views towards health promotion, ii) views towards and practice of SBIRT, iii) facilitators and barriers to delivering SBIRT, iv) training needs to support future SBIRT practice, and v) comparisons in views and attitudes between demographic characteristics, geographical regions, setting and occupational groups.<h4>Methods</h4>This was an open cross-sectional international survey, using an online self-administered questionnaire with closed and open-ended responses. Participants were ≥18 years of age, from any occupational group, working in urgent and emergency care (UEC) settings in any country or region.<h4>Results</h4>There were 362 respondents (aged 21-65 years, 87.8% shift workers) from 7 occupational groups including physicians (48.6%), nurses (22.4%) and advanced clinical practitioners (18.5%). Most believed that health promotion is part of their role, and that SBIRT for alcohol prevention is needed and appropriate in UEC settings. SBIRT was seen to be acceptable to patients. 66% currently provide brief alcohol advice, but fewer screen for alcohol problems or make alcohol-related referrals. The most common barriers were high workload and lack of funding for prevention, lack of knowledge and training on SBIRT, lack of access to high-quality resources, lack of timely referral pathways, and concerns about patient resistance to advice. Some views and attitudes varied according to demographic characteristics, occupation, setting or region.<h4>Conclusions</h4>UEC workers are willing to engage in SBIRT for alcohol prevention but there are challenges to implementation in UEC environments and concerns about workload impacts on already-burdened staff, particularly in the context of global workforce shortages. UEC workers advocate for clear guidelines and policies, increased staff capacity and/or dedicated health promotion teams onsite, SBIRT education/training/resources, appropriate physical spaces for SBIRT conversations and improved alcohol referral pathways to better funded services. Implementation of SBIRT could contribute to improving population health and reducing service demand, but it requires significant and sustained commitment of time and resources for prevention across healthcare organisations.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291573 |
| spellingShingle | Holly Blake Mehmet Yildirim Vinishaa Premakumar Lucy Morris Philip Miller Frank Coffey Attitudes and current practice in alcohol screening, brief intervention, and referral for treatment among staff working in urgent and emergency settings: An open, cross-sectional international survey. PLoS ONE |
| title | Attitudes and current practice in alcohol screening, brief intervention, and referral for treatment among staff working in urgent and emergency settings: An open, cross-sectional international survey. |
| title_full | Attitudes and current practice in alcohol screening, brief intervention, and referral for treatment among staff working in urgent and emergency settings: An open, cross-sectional international survey. |
| title_fullStr | Attitudes and current practice in alcohol screening, brief intervention, and referral for treatment among staff working in urgent and emergency settings: An open, cross-sectional international survey. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Attitudes and current practice in alcohol screening, brief intervention, and referral for treatment among staff working in urgent and emergency settings: An open, cross-sectional international survey. |
| title_short | Attitudes and current practice in alcohol screening, brief intervention, and referral for treatment among staff working in urgent and emergency settings: An open, cross-sectional international survey. |
| title_sort | attitudes and current practice in alcohol screening brief intervention and referral for treatment among staff working in urgent and emergency settings an open cross sectional international survey |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291573 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hollyblake attitudesandcurrentpracticeinalcoholscreeningbriefinterventionandreferralfortreatmentamongstaffworkinginurgentandemergencysettingsanopencrosssectionalinternationalsurvey AT mehmetyildirim attitudesandcurrentpracticeinalcoholscreeningbriefinterventionandreferralfortreatmentamongstaffworkinginurgentandemergencysettingsanopencrosssectionalinternationalsurvey AT vinishaapremakumar attitudesandcurrentpracticeinalcoholscreeningbriefinterventionandreferralfortreatmentamongstaffworkinginurgentandemergencysettingsanopencrosssectionalinternationalsurvey AT lucymorris attitudesandcurrentpracticeinalcoholscreeningbriefinterventionandreferralfortreatmentamongstaffworkinginurgentandemergencysettingsanopencrosssectionalinternationalsurvey AT philipmiller attitudesandcurrentpracticeinalcoholscreeningbriefinterventionandreferralfortreatmentamongstaffworkinginurgentandemergencysettingsanopencrosssectionalinternationalsurvey AT frankcoffey attitudesandcurrentpracticeinalcoholscreeningbriefinterventionandreferralfortreatmentamongstaffworkinginurgentandemergencysettingsanopencrosssectionalinternationalsurvey |