Developing a Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) program with multiple health professions programs.

Substance use is a major public health concern in the United States; only a fraction of people needing treatment for substance use receive care. Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) training is one strategy to increase the identification and treatment of substance use. Integrated approaches to SBIRT delivery assure that every patient will be screened regardless of when and how they enter the healthcare system.

Health-related quality of life and the physician-patient alliance: a preliminary investigation of ultra-brief, real-time measures for primary care.

Purpose: Many psychometrically sound measures exist but feasibility makes real-time use difficult. This study validates two ultra-brief, patient-rated instruments, the Wellness Rating Scale (WRS) and the Provider Alliance Scale (PAS).

Methods: The WRS and the EuroQol visual analogue scale (EQ VAS) were completed by patients in a primary care practice (n = 97) and a non-clinical sample of graduate students (n = 122).

The art and science of interprofessional education.

Interprofessional education (IPE) is increasingly accepted as a core element of health professions education. Its primary function is to prepare health professions students to engage in and deliver interprofessional, team-based healthcare, with the ultimate goal of improving the health and well-being of patients and clients. This paper summarizes findings from 10 interviews with institutional leaders in the field.

InterProfessional Education Collaborative (IPEC), The University of New England.

The University of New England includes more than a dozen health or health related programs within its colleges of Health Professions, Osteopathic Medicine, Pharmacy, Arts and Sciences, School of Public Health, and a soon to be founded College of Dental Medicine. For more than a decade, the Westbrook College of Health Professions has integrated interprofessional education into its programs. Early successes included extra-curricular programming such as seminars, symposia, a film series, research and scholarship days, interprofessional grand rounds, and cultural immersion experiences.