Three Standardized Patient Cases to Measure Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) Skills in Primary Care Residents

Abstract

Abstract Introduction This resource consists of three 20-minute standardized patient encounters that are designed for internal medicine or family medicine residents to assess SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment) skills and to determine individual areas for improvement. Methods Each case is written to represent a 20-minute clinic visit and focuses on substance use history taking and the assessment and development of a clear treatment plan. There are no physical exams included in these cases, but if desired the cases could be modified to assess relevant physical examination skills. After each standardized patient case, residents have a 10-minute exercise to assess specific knowledge and skills. Results Fifteen primary care internal medicine residents participated in the exercise. Averaging across all three cases, the residents received an overall satisfaction rating of .63, which ranked them slightly above “good.” Residents reported that the standardized patient scenarios were representative of the patients they might see in clinic. Most felt the learning experience was valuable and would recommend the exercise to a fellow resident. Discussion SBIRT has been promoted as model for improving health care delivery for patients with alcohol and substance use disorders. Many have called for increased curricular content in medical schools and residency training on alcohol and substance use disorders. Thus, we developed these three standardized patient cases and three postcase exercises to assess SBIRT skills in internal medicine residents.

Keywords

• Editor's Choice
• Brief Intervention
• SBIRT