The BMC Emergency Department’ recently published its Spring 2014 Public and Global Health newsletter. It features lots of great work being done at BMC including efforts from Project ASSERT, the Violence Intervention Advocacy Program and the BNI ART Institute! To download, click on the link below: Final 2014 Spring P&GH Newsletter
by Llaen Coston-Clark The American Medical News article: Recognizing the Alcoholic Patient, by Carolyne Krupa, really describes the need for SBIRT in medical settings. There’s certainly a push for health professionals to know how to recognize and help patients with risky or unhealthy alcohol use. As one doctor describes this gap in care: “There are […]
by Caitlin Barthelmes Evaluating skills and giving feedback can be a tricky thing. My work at the BNI-ART Institute has taught me three effective ways to provide helpful feedback to new learners. Engage the Trainee in Self-Assessment Adult learners are insightful and usually have a sense when something is “working” for them or not. I […]
by Llaen Coston-Clark “It’s like driving a car without brakes,” explains Dr. Nora Volkow, director of NIDA. Morley Safer of CBS’s 60 Minutes recently interviewed Volkow about her research on addiction in Hooked: Why bad habits are hard to break (April 29, 2012). They touched upon addiction as a chronic illness, changes in the brain, […]
by Llaen Coston-Clark I recently stumbled upon NIAAA’s practitioner’s guide on Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention for Youth. There are two forms: 1) an easy to use, pocket-sized guide that breaks down the steps of screening and brief intervention (SBI), and offers information on standard drinks, resources, and when to screen patients, and 2) a […]
by Deric Joseph Nowinski, a clinical psychologist, and Robert Doyle, a clinical psychiatry instructor at Harvard Medical School, recently wrote a book called Almost An Alcoholic: Is My (or My Loved One’s) Drinking a Problem? that outlines problem drinking as a continuum that includes a gray area (“almost an alcoholic”) beyond the dichotomy of “alcoholic” […]
by Caitlin K. Barthelmes Delivering a workshop or a training to a new audience can be both exciting and challenging. After adapting over 80 SBIRT workshops, I have discovered some key lessons to help smooth out the process and pave the way for a successful translation. 1. Know Your Audience This may seem like a […]
by Llaen Coston-Clark According to the founders of motivational interviewing, a communication style “refers to an attitude and approach to helping patients, a way of talking with them that characterizes your relationship with them.” They identify three communication styles which can be imagined as points on a continuum: Following at one end, Directing at the […]
Project ASSERT has earned a designation into SAMHSA’s National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP), receiving high scores across its review criteria. According to its website, NREPP is “a searchable online registry of mental health and substance abuse interventions that have been reviewed and rated by independent reviewers. The purpose of this registry is […]
by Gina Foianini Public health graduate student Health Promotion Advocate (HPA) Intern, 2010-2011 As a health promotion advocate (HPA), one of my main goals is to connect patients with primary care providers. Many of the patients in the pediatric emergency department (ED) do not have a regular provider and, as a result, end up using […]
