Investigation of a Brief Teaching Encounter Using Standardized Patients. Teaching Residents Alcohol Screening and Intervention

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate a brief teaching intervention using standardized patients (SPs) trained to improve residents' detection and advising of problem drinkers. DESIGN: Pretest‐posttest design assessing resident behavior and skills. SUBJECTS: Nineteen internal medicine residents in a University Hospital General Internal Medicine Clinic. INTERVENTION: Announced SPs were interviewed by residents and presented to faculty who provided brief instruction on the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism guidelines for screening and brief counseling of problem drinkers. MEASURE: Unannounced SPs assessed resident behavior and skills. RESULTS: Following the teaching intervention, 2 times more residents screened for alcohol use and nearly 3 times more residents did brief counseling. Residents reported that the intervention was informative and valuable. CONCLUSION: A single, 1‐hour teaching intervention lead to a 2‐ to 3‐fold increase in resident detection and advising of problem drinkers. SPs provide effective teaching encounters and a useful measure of resident behavior.

Effect of Training on Primary Care Residents’ Performance in Brief Alcohol Intervention: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…[9][10][11] In the medical education field there have been several controlled trials, as well as uncontrolled studies, that have shown that BAI training can be effective in improving physician knowledge and skills to address alcohol use. [12][13][14][15][16][17] One randomized trial demonstrated that BAI-trained physicians and health care providers used more BAI components on hazardous drinking patients when encouraged and supported to do so by a primary care office system. 16 In most of this research, providers knew that their clinical skills were being assessed.…”

“…In the only study to date in which participants were blinded to the overall aim of improving frequency of BAI being conducted after training, a control group was lacking. 14 This presented a significant risk of not identifying confounding variables that could have impacted on the performance of the residents. The present research assessed the performance of residents trained in BAI.…”

Standardized Patients in Art Therapy Education: A Phenomenological Study

“…For example, Wilk and Jensen (2002) concluded that even a single 1-hour training session with SPs enhanced the education of medical residents learning how to detect potential alcoholism in patients. Ryan et al (2010) reported that the use of SPs in a comparatively limited capacity was an effective component of teaching communication skills to medical and nursing students.…”

“…Research has included psychiatric and mental health training (Eagles, Calder, Wilson, Murdoch, & Sclare, 2007;Hanson et al, 2008;Lewy, Sells, Gilhooly, & McKelvey, 2009;Wissow et al, 2008;Yudkowsky, 2002), psychotherapy education (Brown, 2008;Lewis, 2002;McNaughton, Ravitz, Wadell, & Hodges, 2008), and substance abuse (Parish, Ramaswamy, Stein, Kachur, & Arnsten, 2006;Wilk & Jensen, 2002).…”

Screening and Intervention for Alcohol and Illicit Drug Abuse

“…20,38 Educational efforts during residency should include instruction on NIAAA screening guidelines as this method has been validated, 39 and familiarity with these guidelines correlated with favorable practices in a national survey of practicing primary care physicians. 26 Furthermore, incorporating instruction on NIAAA guidelines into residency education has been shown to improve screening and intervention practices, 40 and an instruction manual has been developed to aid in the implementation of this training. 41 Patient self-administered screening questions can aid in recognizing alcohol abuse.…”