Examining the reach of a brief alcohol intervention service in routine practice at a level 1 trauma center

The American College of Surgeons requires Level I and II trauma centers to provide brief intervention services to traumatically injured patients who screen positive for alcohol. Despite evidence supporting substantial cost savings and reduced re-injury associated with these services, brief interventions may not be uniformly delivered owing to a variety of demographic, clinical and operational characteristics. To inform service adjustments that may improve the reach of such services, we compared trauma patients who did and did not receive brief alcohol intervention services during their hospitalizations. Electronic medical records of injured patients admitted to a Level I trauma center between September 27, 2013 and March 11, 2014 with a positive blood alcohol concentration (N = 189) were coded for demographic and clinical variables. Records of those who did not receive a brief intervention during their admission were reviewed for possible reasons why interventions were not delivered. Of the total sample, 115 patients (60.8%) received brief interventions. Patients who did and did not receive brief interventions did not differ on age, sex, race, blood alcohol concentration at admission, or mechanism of injury, indicating that patient characteristics were unlikely to bias service delivery. Instead, common features of patients who were referred but did not receive SBIRT interventions included admissions lasting fewer than two working days (12.7%) and persistent cognitive impairment following injury (9.0%). These findings align with previous studies suggesting that service reach could be improved by promoting dedicated and flexible staffing and adapting services to allow for SBIRT delivery in follow-up care settings.