Screening and brief interventions for alcohol use in college students

College students are recognized as a high-risk group for alcohol problems in the United States. Annually approximately 500,000 college students are unintentionally injured, and more than 1,700 college students die from alcohol-related unintentional injury. In addition, individuals who begin drinking alcohol early in life increase their risk of developing serious alcohol problems later in life. As a result, it is essential that efforts be made to focus on opportunities for alcohol screening and brief intervention where applicable in an attempt to reduce problem drinking behaviors.;Alcohol screening and brief interventions for alcohol misuse is an effective way for health care professionals' at student health clinics to take advantage of screening a high-risk population for alcohol misuse during a routine clinic exam. The purpose of this practice improvement project was for healthcare providers to initiate alcohol screening on all willing patients via a self-administered alcohol questionnaire (Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test) and for the healthcare providers to address problem drinking behaviors with individual patients where indicated by implementing a 5-15 minute brief intervention for problem alcohol consumption. The aim was that the screening would flag problem drinkers and at risk individuals who would benefit from a brief alcohol intervention and potentially avoid future alcohol related harm to their health. The AUDIT screening did flag problem alcohol behaviors and facilitated an opportunity for healthcare providers to discuss those negative alcohol behaviors as well as the negative long-term implications they can have on the lives of the individual college students.