The Practice Improvement to Address Adolescent Substance Use (PIAASU) project was implemented in 2 phases. The global aim of the project was to improve health outcomes by adopting best practices for addressing substance use concerns in youth (defined as ages 11-21). The specific aim was to support pediatric practices in using the Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) approach as part of health supervision visits and appropriate acute care visits to improve and sustain the implementation of substance use prevention, detection, assessment, and intervention practices to improve the overall health and safety of adolescents, ages 11 through 21 years.
During Phase 1 from 2015-2017, a quality improvement learning collaborative was implemented among 3 chapters (CT, GA, UT) to support training of local pediatric practices to adopt SBIRT. This IHI Breakthrough Series Model collaborative offered on-site learning sessions and monthly webinars led by the chapters that included content on SBIRT, data sharing and discussion on the use of quality improvement methods. Practices tested what they learned and implemented strategies to improve their use of the SBIRT components.
During Phase 2 from 2019-2021, Project ECHO, with a quality improvement component, was used to deliver 7 monthly education and training sessions virtually to individual practices nationally using presentations with questions and answers, case discussions, and the review of data and tests of change reported by practice teams. Practices, again, tested what they learned and implemented strategies to improve their use of the SBIRT components. Practices in need of quality improvement support were able to consult with a quality improvement coach. Additionally, during Phase 2, 5 AAP chapters were trained to implement the SBIRT Substance Use ECHO (AZ, FL, MT, LA, and PR), of which 3 chapters (AZ, MT, and PR), included a quality improvement component.
The Practice Improvement to Address Adolescent Substance Use project was funded by generous support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.