The federal government has given Wayne State University nearly $1 million to train social work and nursing students to assess patients in primary care settings for substance abuse behaviors.

Feleta Wilson, associate professor and Fulbright Scholar in the College of Nursing, and Anwar Najor-Durack, director of field education for the School of Social Work, were awarded a three-year, $945,000 grant from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to train 100 undergraduate and graduate students each year in Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment  (SBIRT). The students will apply this training in direct practice with patients in health care settings throughout Southeast Michigan under the supervision of clinicians who will also be trained in SBIRT under the program. 

Wayne State, whose mission is to create and advance knowledge, prepare a diverse student body to thrive, and positively impact local and global communities, is the first university in the state of Michigan to receive a SAMHSA grant for training students in SBIRT, an integrated, public health approach to delivering early intervention and treatment services for persons with — or at risk of developing — substance use disorders. 

SBIRT is designed for use in primary care centers, hospital emergency rooms, trauma centers and other community settings that are a person’s first, and sometimes only, contact with the health care system. DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital, Detroit Recovery Project, and the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence-Greater Detroit Area are among the area health care providers that have agreed to supervise students in the SBIRT program.

Wilson, who is principal investigator of the project, and Najor-Durack will design and implement the SBIRT program with an interprofessional team that includes Associate Professor Antonio González-Prendes and Assistant Professor Suzanne Brown, both with the School of Social Work, and Nursing’s Umeika Stephens, assistant professor, and Cynthera McNeill, clinical instructor. According to Najor-Durack, training social workers and nurses in SBIRT makes sense because they typically spend the most time with patients, overseeing intakes, discharges and referrals. They also share a more holistic approach to assessing patients.

“Social workers and nurses consider how physical, behavioral and environmental circumstances come together to influence health and well-being and can direct patients toward community-based resources to improve their outcomes,” said Najor-Durack. “Traditionally, health care services are delivered in silos such that linkages aren’t made between the symptoms patients present with and seemingly nonrelated behaviors, such as substance abuse. This is all changing with the Affordable Care Act and its expectation that allied health professionals will work together to ensure quality and coordination of patient care.”

According to Wilson, SBIRT training will be particularly attractive to public health nurses, psychiatric nurse practitioners and adult nurses. She said health care providers often are more successful than family members and friends in helping people address their substance abuse behaviors because of the confidential, nonjudgmental environment they provide. Wilson said Wayne State’s SBIRT grant is expected to have long-term regional benefits because the university’s graduates tend to stay in Southeast Michigan.

“Our social workers and nurses return to their communities to practice, so they will keep this skill set concentrated in Metropolitan Detroit for the benefit of its residents,” Wilson said. “We are designing this as a train-the-trainer program and fully expect participants to teach SBIRT to their colleagues. So the clinical impacts will be great.”

Wilson said the School of Social Work’s Office of Continuing Education and Professional Development will also offer SBIRT workshops for allied health professionals over the next three years.

Collaboration is this week's "Distinctively Wayne State University" value. "Distinctively Wayne State University" is WSU's five-year strategic plan laying the foundation for strategic focus areas and core values for 2016-21. Learn more at strategicplan.wayne.edu.