Teaching Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment Techniques to Nurse Practitioner Students

• The role of the nurse practitioner (NP) is key to advocating for universal screening for patients’ alcohol or other drug use.
• NP students’ role adequacy, role legitimacy, and role support increase post-Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT).
• NPs have a unique opportunity to implement SBIRT in multiple health care settings.

Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) is a universal, evidence-based practice for patients with at-risk alcohol and other drug use. The purpose of this project was to educate nurse practitioner students (NPSs) in SBIRT to increase knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to working with alcohol and other drug–using patients. Thirty-four primary care NPSs underwent in-class and online training, with evaluations pretraining and posttraining. SBIRT training of NPSs may help develop their assessment and intervention skills, along with more positive attitudes that are essential for SBIRT implementation. Increasing nurse practitioners’ use of validated screening instruments and intervention skills may improve patient outcomes.