Routine Clinical Screening for Substance Use Disorders in the Emergency Room Setting

Screening for alcohol use and substances of abuse in the emergency and trauma settings is critical for both effective current treatment of the presenting clinical issue and prevention of future incidents. Identification, engagement and treatment of substance use disorders decreased trauma and emergency department visits and medical comorbidities (Bertholet et al., 2005; Kaner et al., 2007). To ensure consistent documentation of alcohol and substance use, the emergency medicine is initiating a new standard of care for substance use screening: the use of a brief self-evaluation questionnaire on alcohol, tobacco and illicit substance use to be completed in triage. This questionnaire will allow emergency medicine patients presenting to the emergency room. This research study will perform a chart review on all self-evaluation questionnaires on alcohol, tobacco and substance use to determine the prevalence of use of specific substances in this patient population and associated demographic predictors and medical comorbidities. This study will also review medical records after one year of the index emergency room visit to establish rates or re-presentation and hospitalization correlated with different substance use.