Brief Motivational Interviewing for Substance Use by Medical Students Is Effective in the Emergency Department.

Background: Efficacy of medical student substance use interventions in the emergency department (ED) setting remains unstudied.

Objective: In this pilot study, we set out to determine whether medical students could perform a brief motivational interview for substance use in the ED.

Methods: At two hospitals, medical students utilized motivational interviewing skills taught by their medical school curriculum and administered a substance use intervention to ED patients who met the study definition of unhealthy substance use.

Results: In 6 weeks, medical students gave a brief intervention to 102 subjects. The mean age of the subjects was 46.9 (standard deviation 15.6) years. The majority, 86 (86.3%) identified as white. Fifty-four (52.9%) identified as male. Eighty of 102 (78.4%) participants completed a phone follow-up assessment. Of the 69 smokers, 11 (15.9%) reported attempting to quit or quitting completely. Of the 33 with high-risk alcohol use, 11 (33.3%) were abstaining completely from alcohol use and an additional 12 (36.4%) reported a decrease in alcohol daily consumption (measured in drinks per day). Warm hand-off success for street drugs or at-risk alcohol use was 13.6% for those who received an intervention.

Conclusions: It is feasible for medical students to perform a substance use intervention in the ED setting. Medical student contributions as a part of the team response to this public health crisis provide an opportunity for further discussion and research.