This guideline provides recommendations for nurses and other members of the interprofessional team across all care settings who are assessing and providing interventions to individuals aged 11 years and older who use substances and may be at risk for, or experiencing, a substance use disorder.
This guideline provides recommendations for nurses and other members of the interprofessional team across all care settings who are assessing and providing interventions to individuals aged 11 years and older who use substances and may be at risk for, or experiencing, a substance use disorder.
As an introduction, we’ve provided summaries of the practice recommendations from the BPG document — but we strongly encourage downloading RNAO’s official PDF.
Screen all clients to determine whether they use substances.
For clients who use substances, use universal screening questions and/or an appropriate screening tool to determine the level of support required.
Conduct a comprehensive assessment with all clients who screen positive for substance use, as appropriate based on the nurses’ knowledge, skill, time, setting and resources.
Build collaborative relationships with clients through the use of motivational interviewing techniques to develop the plan of care.
Use brief intervention to collaborate with clients identified as at risk for or experiencing a substance use disorder.
Advocate for and support access to combined pharmacological and psychosocial interventions, as appropriate, and promote the appropriate use of combined interventions to improve well-being and health outcomes.
Engage youth and adolescents at risk for or experiencing a substance use disorder using family-based therapies until recovery, as appropriate.
Reassess the effectiveness of the plan of care until the client’s goals are met.
Integrate theory and clinical practice opportunities regarding care of clients at risk for or experiencing a substance use disorder into the undergraduate education of nurses and other health-care providers.
Health-care providers participate in continuing education to enhance their ability to assess and work with clients at risk for or experiencing a substance use disorder.
This website was developed by a team of researchers at the Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing at Toronto Metropolitan University (Formerly Ryerson University). The purpose of the site is to provide supplementary resources for implementing RNAO’s Best Practice Guidelines. Some information about the best practice guidelines has been collected directly from the RNAO BPG website. We have done our best to ensure accuracy, however some discrepancies may occur. For official, up-to-date information about the best practice guidelines, please refer to the RNAO website.
