Speaker
Description
St. Joseph’s Health Care London is a multi-site organization with various specialized care areas. Care areas range from acute care, long-term care, forensic mental health, and tertiary mental health care.
The tertiary mental health care teams’ interface with clients that use substances that come from the community directly through the Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams. Recent adoption of the electronic health record provided an opportunity to screen, provide effective treatment, withdrawal management, and continued support systemically.
Collaboration between the mental health teams, professional practice, quality measurement and clinical decision support (QMCDS), and clinical informatics led to the integration of the CAGE-AID screening tool.
Integrating standardized screening tools such as CAGE-AID into the electronic health record (EHR) is a practical strategy to operationalize the RNAO Best Practice Guideline (BPG) Engaging Clients Who Use Substances. Embedding the tool within digital workflows supports consistent, routine screening, enabling clinicians to identify substance use concerns early and in a nonjudgmental manner. This structured approach promotes therapeutic engagement by normalizing conversations about substance use and reducing stigma, which are key principles of the guideline
EHR integration enhances clinical decision-making by linking screening results with evidence-informed prompts, care pathways, and documentation templates. This facilitates timely health teaching tailored to the client’s level of readiness. It also allows for the incorporation of harm reduction strategies into individualized care plans. For example, automated reminders can support brief interventions, safer use education, and referrals to community resources.
While screening rates for new admissions fluctuated initially, tasking the tool in the EHR for all new admissions prompted staff to use it every time. Leveraging digital documentation improves continuity of care across providers and settings, ensuring that screening outcomes and follow-up actions are visible, actionable, and in alignment with this BPG.
What RNAO BPG or tool/toolkit is your abstract related to?
Engaging Clients Who Use Substances
Author(s) Credentials and Title
Tomasz Kolaczyk, RN, MSc, BSc, BScN
Marilyn Atkin RN, MN-LPNP
Ann Turcotte RN, MN, PNC (C)
| Organization Name | St. Joseph's Health Care London |
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