Teaching SBIRT through simulation: Educational case studies from nursing, psychology, social work, and medical residency programs

The prevalence of substance use disorders remains high in the United States and healthcare professionals are largely ill-equipped to intervene with patients experiencing substance misuse or use disorders. To address this issue, substance abuse intervention curricula such as Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) are being integrated into university healthcare programs through the use of simulation to provide healthcare students with the necessary skills to address patient substance use. Teaching SBIRT with simulation provides students with an authentic clinical environment in which to learn and refine clinical skills. Simulation also supports reflective practice by providing an opportunity for instructors and peers to directly observe and provide feedback on students' patient care. Additionally, students can review (through video recording) and reflect on their own performance within the simulation to build self-awareness and improve their skills and approach to clinical work. This paper describes how SBIRT simulation was integrated into nursing, psychology, and social work curricula at a medium-sized northwest university and a family medicine residency program in the same community. Satisfaction with SBIRT simulation as well as students' perceived change in confidence in addressing substance use was recorded. Overall, instructors, students, and medical residents were highly satisfied with simulation experiences. Students and medical residents also reported increases in understanding of and confidence in executing SBIRT. Simulation implementation strategies and resources are provided and discussed.