Advanced practice nursing students' perspectives of learning screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment in interprofessional settings

Abstract

ABSTRACT Screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) is a public health approach to early intervention for substance use through universal screening. Utilization of SBIRT was taught in an interprofessional setting to nurse practitioner, nurse anesthetist, and dental hygiene students through integrated educational grant projects. A qualitative analysis was done across 10 SBIRT data sets collected over 4 years. The researchers used a nominal group consensus method to review the data, and six themes were identified. Results showed that students desired more training on motivational interviewing techniques. Furthermore, students identified that to effectively work interprofessionally, students must be exposed to such collaboration throughout their professional educational programs.