SBIRT Collaborative

Screening, Brief Intervention, & Referral to Treatment

A partnership with Boston College and the Allston-Brighton Substance Abuse Task Force

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Overview Menu

A Medical-Educational Partnership
What is SBIRT?
SBIRT's Proven Methodology
SEMC-BC SBIRT Collaborative Mission Statement

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Welcome to the St. Elizabeth's Medical Center-Boston College SBIRT Collaborative home page! Our online application & other in-depth resources are available on the far right. After applying, candidates will need to visit SEMC's Volunteer Services web page to begin the hospital’s volunteer registration process (which includes submitting the standard Volunteer Services application form).

A Medical-Educational Partnership

The St. Elizabeth's Medical Center-Boston College SBIRT Collaborative aims to strengthen health-related services for Greater Boston residents through a comprehensive, integrated framework of screening and intervention. The Collaborative intends to improve upon existing SBIRT program structures by embracing a series of groundbreaking program elements with the potential to enhance SBIRT methodology.

The Collaborative is actively recruiting undergraduate students and other interested persons with prior health care training including EMT certification, nursing training or equivalent experience to lead initial encounters with persons seeking care in the Emergency Department and hospitalized in-patients: both those identified as likely at-risk substance users and those without known risk factors. All other current SBIRT-style intervention approaches currently depend upon hiring or retraining health care providers or recruiting former substance users in an AA-style approach. We believe our volunteer-based approach mitigates several concerns regarding existing SBIRT screens; namely, the potential for greater strain on limited health care personnel and resources (when depending on staff members) or a lack of specialized medical knowledge (when utilizing former substance users).

The Collaborative immerses its volunteer screeners into a patient-centered health care environment with intensive, detailed training on effective communication with patients as well as additional emphases on the multicultural and spiritual elements essential for the effective delivery of care. Such an approach necessarily exposes students to patients of many different ages, backgrounds and life circumstances. The Collaborative is sponsoring screening shifts for undergraduate students with pre-existing health care training including EMT certification and/or nursing training because such students represent some of the most dedicated, intelligent and capable young men and women in Greater Boston – persons uniquely equipped to handle the pressures of such an intensive program and best positioned to reap long-term professional rewards from participation.

The Collaborative does not offer workstudy or other financial compensation. For our screeners the novel experience of screening patients according to preventive as well as interventional health care practices will be attractive to health care employers as they seek to more fully implement a wellness-based health care approach. For persons planning further education this Collaborative will present valuable skill sets for future applications and resumes. The unique patient encounter opportunities afforded to SBIRT screeners, compared to most other undergraduate health care service offerings nationwide, ensure our screeners are quite competitive when seeking future educational, research, and career opportunities. In addition, the work of SBIRT screeners may directly contribute to reducing preventable mortality and decreasing unnecessary morbidity; it is a chance to be part of the solution to the epidemic of drug and alcohol addiction.

What is SBIRT?

SBIRT is a comprehensive, integrated, public health approach emphasizing early intervention and treatment services for persons with substance use disorders, as well as those who are at risk of developing these disorders. Primary care offices, hospital emergency rooms, trauma centers, and other community settings provide opportunities for early intervention with at-risk substance users.

Screening quickly assesses the severity of substance use and identifies the appropriate level of treatment.
Brief Intervention focuses on increasing insight and awareness regarding substance use, and motivating patients toward behavioral change.
Referral to Treatment provides patients in need of more extensive treatment with access to specialty care upon request. SBIRT screeners also provide information on campus-based educational and counseling resources to undergraduate student patients.

A key aspect of SBIRT is the integration and coordination of screening and treatment components into a system of services. This system links a community's specialized treatment programs with a network of early intervention and referral activities conducted in medical and social service settings.

The St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center – Boston College SBIRT Collaborative is part of a fundamental paradigm shift in the provision of treatment for substance use and abuse. Our services are different from, but designed to work in concert with, specialized/traditional treatment and related services. The primary focus of specialized treatment has been persons with more severe substance use or those who meet the criteria for a Substance Use Disorder. The SBIRT Collaborative primarily targets patients with nondependent substance use with the aim of fostering effective strategies for intervention prior to the need for specialized treatment. Screeners function as patient advocates when encounters with severely affected patients result in requests for specialized treatment. Screeners also facilitate patient access to additional hospital resources such as counselors, social workers, and chaplains when dealing with financial/legal/familial issues, anxiety/depression or domestic violence which can all seriously impact a patient's substance use behaviors. SBIRT screening demos and other in-depth resources are hosted on our Multimedia page.

SBIRT's Proven Methodology

SBIRT programs involve the implementation of a screening/intervention system within community and medical settings including hospitals, physician offices, educational institutions, and mental health centers. Screening determines the severity of substance use and identifies the appropriate level of intervention. The system provides for brief intervention or brief treatment within the community setting or motivates and refers those identified as needing more extensive services than provided in the community setting to a specialist setting for assessment, diagnosis, and appropriate treatment.

As of August 2007, SBIRT grantees funded by the Substance Abuse and Medical Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) have screened over 536,000 individuals. Through grantees’ efforts, researchers are learning how to integrate SBIRT into diverse health care contexts. SBIRT research has shown that large numbers of individuals at risk of developing serious alcohol or other drug problems may be identified through primary care screening. Interventions such as SBIRT have been found to:

Decrease the frequency and severity of drug and alcohol use
Reduce the risk of trauma
Increase the percentage of patients who enter specialized substance abuse treatment

Preliminary data suggest the approach is successful in modifying the consumption/use patterns of those who consume five or more alcoholic beverages in one sitting and those who use illegal substances. In addition to decreases in substance abuse, screening and brief interventions have also been associated with fewer hospital days and fewer emergency department visits. Cost-benefit analyses and cost-effectiveness analyses have demonstrated net-cost savings from these interventions. Grantees have implemented SBIRT in trauma centers/emergency rooms, community clinics, federally qualified health centers, and school clinics nationwide. In recognition of the SBIRT Collaborative's exceptional promise in terms of health care education and cost reduction, several of our staff members and screeners were invited to attend the 2010 Catholic Health Assembly in Denver, Colorado to present our work to a national audience of faith-based health care providers. Our organization also offered an additional presentation at the invitation of the 2011 NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education Alcohol & Other Drug Abuse Prevention Conference, reflecting the relevance of our program's mission, objectives, and strategy for both health and education.

SEMC-BC SBIRT Collaborative Mission Statement

Screening, Brief Intervention & Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) is a proven assessment and intervention methodology targeted to persons at-risk for substance use-related health problems. The St. Elizabeth's Medical Center-Boston College SBIRT Collaborative aims to recruit mature college students and other qualified candidates from Allston-Brighton and surrounding communities in order to equip them with the tools, resources, and training necessary to engage SEMC patients, Greater Boston residents, and their undergraduate peers regarding the potential consequence of excessive alcohol consumption and related substance behaviors. These volunteers will learn to engage individuals identified as at-risk for substance use through best practices in health care communication in order to help such patients avoid the pitfalls of dependency and addiction. Numerous peer-reviewed studies have consistently indicated that short-term interventions can significantly decrease risk behaviors among substance users while simultaneously reducing health care costs for this historically needy patient population. The SEMC-BC SBIRT Collaborative looks to empower all patients toward informed self-sufficiency with special emphasis on their unique personal, cultural and spiritual contexts.

"The only kind of learning which significantly influences behavior is self-discovered or self-appropriated learning - truth that has been assimilated in experience."

- Carl Rogers

"For learning to take place with any kind of efficiency students must be motivated. To be motivated, they must become interested. And they become interested when they are actively working on projects which they can relate to their values and goals in life."

- Gus Tuberville, President, William Penn College