Date of Conferral

8-17-2026

Date of Award

August 2026

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Cara Krulewitch

Abstract

Summary The project hospitals have, on average, 2,400 emergency department (ED) visits a month. Although patients receive a social screening, there are no specific assessments to determine if the person is at risk for alcohol use disorder (AUD). The lack of screening is a missed opportunity to provide a Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) assessment of over 2,400 patients a month or 48,000 people annually. Although several screening tools could be used for an SBIRT assessment, the recommendation of ED nursing leadership is to implement the tool known as the CAGE Questionnaire (Cut down, Annoyed, Guilty, and Eye-opener), which is already available in the electronic health record at the hospital (Ewing, 1984). The ED visit provides an opportunity to positively intervene with people experiencing AUD and potentially reduce the risk of harm resulting from alcohol use. The gap in practice that was addressed through this DNP project was providing education on the value of implementing an SBIRT process in the ED and providing education on brief intervention and referral to treatment through consultation with the social work team. The evidence-based project question was: After receiving the educational staff development class on SBIRT, will the ED registered nurses be able to implement the SBIRT assessment for their patients as indicated by the pre-and post-test ?” Findings supported an increase in knowledge and confidence in the SBIRT assessment and the nurses realizing the importance of providing a SBIRT assessment on all patients in the Emergency Department. The potential impact of the project is to increase the number of SBIRT assessments done on Emergency Department patients and to increase the number of patients referred to treatment resources.

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