be able to teach those skills as well as how to actually interact with live or simulated patients in terms of screening them for alcohol and drugs.”
Thirteen universities have been selected to receive up to $290,000 a year for up to three years, and an additional eight universities will receive $1.7 million annually for up to five years. These grants will help develop and implement SBIRT programs in the both the classroom and medical setting.
California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) will be one of the schools receiving annual funding from SAMHSA for the next three years.
The university will use the funding from SAMHSA’s grant across three departments on their campus. They include the School of Nursing, the Department of Social Work, and the Department of Human Services and will begin in the spring semester of 2017.
The program will be integrated with existing courses. The university expects to train 650 students within a three-year period in a traditional classroom setting and online. CSUF also plans to train 75 people already working in the medical field in Orange County.
“It’s a very, very positive thing, because in Orange County alone, substance use is a very large problem,” said Beverly Quaye, assistant professor in the School of Nursing, the College of Health and Human Development and project director of CSUF’s SBIRT program. “It contributes to a lot of the homelessness, unemployment, broken families, and crime because of the social effects of people being under the influence.”
Academic and community partnerships offer positive change and improvement for community needs, according to Quaye.
“From a learning perspective, very few students across the spectrum get any introduction to alcohol and drugs,” said Forman. “So this boosts student population’s exposure and provides them a very practical approach.”
