Improving Alcohol Use Screening on A University Campus with AUDIT-C: A Reflective Practice Report

The purpose of this reflective practice was to explore why alcohol use disorder (AUD) was not being routinely assessed when patients visited primary care center on a large Christian university campus in central Arizona. As a nursing instructor at this university, I was confident that alcohol consumption occurred among the patients seen at the college’s healthcare center because of the acceptance of its nature in American college culture. On several occasions, I read anonymous prayer requests on campus from young adults reaching out for help with their use of alcohol and other substances. Even though the university’s campus is a dry campus where alcohol is prohibited, there are still opportunities to obtain it, which can lead to AUD. Alcohol use can cause negative consequences that can permanently change someone’s life. Early identification allows those with AUD to have the choice to make healthier decisions. This reflection process includes quantitative data from implementing the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Concise (AUDIT-C) on this university campus and recommendations for future practice, policy, and research. The data analyzed the comparison and implementation groups, and chi-square tests were used. The results indicated there was a statistically significant improvement in AUD identification rates X2(1, N=991) =42.97, p=.001.